So you want to know about me…

I hate to write about myself.  I really do.  I can write about things I enjoy, stuff I do, my family, you name it, but I hate to write about me.  It makes me feel exposed, as if I were naked on a stage, and that’s not a place I ever want to be naked.  I can be quite chatty once I get to know someone, but I don’t tend to volunteer a lot of personal information when I first meet someone.  In fact, I’m usually rather quiet.  I prefer to watch rather than be watched. 

But that’s difficult to do in a blog.  So we’ll start with the biographical info. 

I’m a respectable age.  It’s been quite a few years since I was last carded.  I was born and spent my early childhood in northern Kentucky, and then my family moved to my dad’s home state of Tennessee, where I’ve been ever since.  I now reside in Nashville, where I’m a single mother of two grown sons.  I share a little trailer with Yvonne, my lovely roommate, her seven cats, my two dogs, and the puppy we share.  Yes, it’s a zoo.

I’m considered totally and permanently disabled thanks to a few health problems that began at birth but weren’t diagnosed until I had a mild stroke at the age of 39.  I’ve lived with chronic pain since I was 10 years old, but I try not to let all of this get me down.  I may not be able to do things the way you do, or even like I used to do, so I try to figure out a new approach, my approach. 

I have both Fibromyalgia and Lupus, and, while they are both considered "invisible" illnesses, I am not invisible. Therefore, I oversee Fibro Friends, a group devoted to Advocacy, Education and Support.  We have a great online group of nearly 400, and while the in person group isn’t nearly that big, they’re wonderful.  They’ve done more for me than they’ll ever know.

All of that has turned me into a Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Advocate.  I work with my Fibro Friends, the National Fibromyalgia and Chronic PainAssociation, and the Leaders Against Pain Action Network.  I’m also a U.S. Pain Foundation Ambassador. 

My main hobbies are baking, which I’ve been doing since I was about 10, crocheting, which began when I was 8, and paranormal research, which I’ve been fascinated with for as far back as I can recall, although that’s not saying much some days.  Remember Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators? I’ve co-written one published book, and I’ve got three more in the works. 

Oh, enough of this.   It’s totally boring, but it gives you a bit of an idea about me.  So let’s sum it up.  I’m a daughter, sister, mother, author, paranormal researcher, advocate, crocheter, baker, animal lover… Shoot, I’m just me, sick and twisted, but still me. 

The blog will get better, even funny at times.  I promise.  Cross my heart, even if it is a sick one.