Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Daddy's birthday




OK, keeping up with this blog site has not been a top priority for me obviously. But I couldn't let today go by without acknowledging my father, David Self. If he were still alive, he would be turning 88 today. Wow, that's hard to believe. The hardest part is that it's been more than 21 years since he suddenly dropped dead of a massive heart attack at the young age of 66. It just doesn't seem that long ago.

I often wonder what he would be like if he were still alive today. Would he still be as sharp as he was? Would he still be in good shape and handsome? Even as he aged and his hair thinned and grayed, he always looked distinguished to me. My mother, too.

Helen Self lived another 12 years after Daddy died. It's hard to believe she's been gone now for nearly 10 years.

For the past month, I've been spending a lot of intensive time revisiting my parents' lives as I work on the book I'm writing about them. So I'm tenderly present to who they were, what their lives were like as children, as young adults meeting for the first time, then raising a family in Alabama while also devoting themselves to the things they were most passionate about -- education and the Methodist Church. They also both earned doctorates in the process. I don't know how they did all that with four rambunctious children underfoot.

They were amazing people and continue to be an inspiration to me. I'm proud to be their daughter.

Happy birthday, Daddy. I miss you both.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Starting anew

After eight and a half years as features editor at The Tuscaloosa News, I am leaving that position effective the day after Labor Day. There is certainly some sadness - I'll miss the awesome people at The News and being in the middle of the hoopla when events happen. Fortunately, I will be able to continue to write the fallen warrior profiles that I have been doing since the fall of 2005 paying tribute to Alabama troops who have made the ultimate sacrifice since the war on terror started. And I'll keep up the fallen warrior blogs on The News' web site.

My other plans include finishing at long last a book I started about my parents a year ago, but been talking about for more than 20 years. I've got to get that out of my system once and for all. And I have a lot of reading and traveling I've been wanting to do, a myriad of projects I've kept putting on the back burner for years and some sleep to catch up on.

I'll be using this space to capture this phase of my journey and explore what life looks like when you start a fresh page. Wish me well!