Late Bloomer

What has age got to do with anything?

Oh, I know I have slowed down a bit, but that's OK.  I do what I enjoy and the hell with the rest.  For a good part of my life I did what was expected with little or no regard to what was going to make  me happy and content.  What will people think or what will they say? Who are 'they' anyway?

Oh, the rebel in me reared its head every so often and I got that inner glow.

In the late 80's, I decided to return to college.  And three years later, I graduated with an Associate Degree in Electrical Engineering.

In the summer of 2005, I was heading towards my 4th anniversary of being a survivor of breast cancer.  One evening after dinner, I said, 'I think I'm going to get a tattoo when I hit 5 years'. And the person next to me said, 'Why wait, let's go now'.  A couple of hours later, I was sporting a pretty butterfly.  'They' couldn't believe I would do such a thing and didn't understand it was in celebration of a daily event (I'm surviving).  Maybe, I'll think about getting another soon to celebrate entering into another decade of my life.

Labor Day weekend of 2009, will be etched into my brain for ever.  I broke the neck of the Humerus bone in my left arm.  As a doctor later said - I nearly knocked the ice cream off of the cone. Six weeks of being tied up unable to do much of anything. Oh, I knew I would be able to cope, but would I ever shot again.  I had recently entered into the gun culture and was enjoying shooting as a sport and self defense and hoping to own in the near future.  I think the doctors and therapist were getting tired of me asking.  Within eight months I was back at the range, and talk about an inner glow.  I think I was smiling for a week after.  Two years to the date of the accident, I attended a two day shoot, brought my own gun and got to try a lot of others.  Later that year I attended classes for my CCW permit. I passed with a 100% on the shooting portion.  I now proudly carry my CCW card.

And again, 'They' asked why.  Because I can.


As, I wrote this I thought back through my life.  I did push the envelope a bit through the years.

• 'Borrowing' my cousin's bb gun.  I was a girl and you don't play with guns.

• New community college in town offering Law Enforcement classes  - first female to apply and they didn't know if I could take the classes.  I did. That was early 60's.

• My mini skirt wedding dress, circa 1970's.

• Learned to ride an ATV in my early 60's.  Heaven - the AZ desert and an ATV.

• 1965 Chevy Impala Super Sport Convertible.  2003 Cougar.

So, I guess it is alright that my daughter called me a Badass.