Winners! I want to announce who won the two copies of TRUTH BE TOLD in the February Newsletter. Congratulations to Cindy Werner and Shortie Warren. Hopefully, you have your e-books by now. The numbers randomly generated were 7 & 11 out of 16 respondents.
Many of you know March is Women’s History Month. Many years ago, I was active in American Association of University Women (AAUW). The organization focused for a year on the issue that our history is written mostly by males, leaving out much of history from a woman’s point of view. The organization coined the term “Herstory.” To get an honest view of a situation, the more perspectives you have the better. So I want to share some women’s stories–yours.
And oh, my goodness, some of y’all had some hair raising experiences in the cold. I’m sharing three of those with permission from the individuals.
The first is a story of courage from Julie Parrish:
My cold weather experience which my family still won’t let me forget in the day I had a 300 lb container of corn fall on me. We used to burn corn in a pellet stove to heat our home and kept the corn in large containers on our deck. Since my husband was out of town for work I tried moving one of the containers closer to the door but while I was pulling it backwards I slipped on ice. I still had a hold on the container, and as I fell flat on my back the container came with me and landed on my chest all the way to my feet. So I’m out there with no coat the sun is going down, and I’m trapped with 300 lbs sitting on me. After about 30 min of wriggling, I finally was able to crawl out from under it but I was cold and wet and very sore. I had bruises for weeks, and I still here about it from my family.
We’re so glad you made it, Julie. I think the message is never give up.
Next we’ll hear from Shortie Warren, and yes, she won a copy of TRUTH BE TOLD. Hers is also a story of never giving up.
We had a bad winter storm one year, I can’t even remember how much snow we had, but it shut down the whole town. There were drifts as high as buildings in some places. I was at work and needed to get home. I called several people about picking me up and none could get out. Rick worked for the highway dept so was out plowing, daughter didn’t have a car so I decided to walk knowing there were 2 or 3 places I could stop and warm up. Got to the first, and the drifts were 20 feet high so walked to the second and no one was home!! Got home and my hair was iced over. I was freezing but got home in time to get the dog we’d left outside in the house!! Boy did I get yelled at!!
Definitely a happily ever after story. We’re so glad you could save the dog, not to mention yourself.
Third we’ll hear from Alyson Widen with a real feel good story.
I’ve had 2 snow experiences this winter that were tough. After working a half day early December, I hurried home because the weather was bad. In my apartment’s driveway, I thought my CRV with AWD would get up the slight hill where another car was already stuck. Nope, I got a bit further, then beached out on a foot deep snowdrift. It took 2 maintenance guys to dig out my car out, then I moved over to the side, so the snowplow could go by. An hour later, the snowplow guy shoveled around my car and made a path through my apartment’s parking lot. I put my CRV next to the generator as directed. It was the only spot cleared. I asked the snowplow guy if he was hungry, so I made 2 PB & J sandwiches, chewy bar, drink box, protein shake, water bottle and applesauce, knowing he probably wouldn’t have time to stop to get food. An hour later, the apartment manager said I had to move my car, so I went out, but the USPS Mail truck was parked behind me. I waited for her to finish loading the mailboxes of 133 residents. Luckily someone had left a spot, so I straddled their tire tracks and tucked into a parking spot. I didn’t go outside for 5 days, knowing it would be hard for another undrifted spot to open up.
Isn’t great to know even in dreadful circumstances people stop to look out for others? Thanks to all of you for sharing your stories. They were hair-raising and up-lifting.
The March Newsletter will come out earlier than usual because I have a guest coming on March 25 and I want to be able to announce newsletter winners the week following the release of the newsletter. Our February winners will be in the March Newsletter, too.
Marsha R. West, Author 