A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

The Shared Life   This past week I attended my high school reunion. How many years? Um…let’s say… “A lot.” Okay, I’ll fess up. It was my fiftieth. Actually, “fifty plus one” since we could not celebrate last year due to COVID.    Because I was traveling from Ohio to Florida for the event, I thought this week’s blog would be all about reconnecting with my high school friends.    Indeed, it is a post about reconnecting, but in more ways than I expected.   My mom came with me so she could see some of her friends in Florida as well. We stopped for the night in southern Kentucky where many folks on my mother’s side of the family still live. My cousin, Gerry, graciously opened her home to us to spend the night. Moreover, she let other family members know of our visit. We all shared a delicious home cooked meal made complete with vegetables from the garden.    The food was wonderful, but the conversation lasting long into the shadows of the evening prove...

  “There’s No Place Like Home”   We all know the famous lesson Dorothy learned in the Wizard of Oz. “There’s no place like home." It’s true.   This past week, I traveled to Florida for my high school reunion. “Is that where you’re from?” one of my Ohio friends asked.   “Yep, I lived in a small town just north of Tampa."    Actually, I was born in Ohio and I’ve spent most of my life in Ohio. So why do I say I’m from Florida? I suppose it’s because those major events of life…those transitions an anthropologist would call “rites of passage” that catapult us from being a child to  being an adult, took place in Florida.   ·        I graduated from both high school and college in Florida ·        I got my drivers license and first car in Florida ·        I cast my first vote in Florida ·        I started dating in Florida ·  ...

  “Top Secret”   Mention the name “Fernald” in the Cincinnati area and you will receive everything from shivers to perplexed stares.   And when you tell them what a great time you had exploring the center there, longtime residents are shocked. “At Fernald?” they ask. “Do you glow in the dark?”   Have I piqued your interest?    From 1951 to 1989, Fernald operated as a uranium processing facility. It was one part of a nationwide Cold War weapons effort.    In 1989, contaminants were found released in the environment. Environmental remediation became the priority. Since the cleanup, the thousand plus acres have been converted into restored wetlands, prairies, and forests. There are seven miles of hiking trails where you can enjoy a variety of wildlife. On my first visit, I didn’t even leave the visitor center to watch a young deer loping across the grassland beyond the water. Back in the day...Radium posed no threat. In fact it was believed to impro...

  A Revisit to “RESET”   Every year I choose a word for the year. I know many people who do this and it is always interesting to see how it plays out in our lives. Generally, in June or July I try to revisit the word and assess how it is working out for me at that point in time. Here it is August and I am only now getting to that place of self-evaluation.   My word for 2022 is RESET. ( You can read the original post HERE. )    The word had implications of changing, adapting, adjusting, revising, or redesigning my life. I wasn’t sure how I felt about doing that. I was happy. I wasn’t accomplishing all I want to do, but I wasn’t living with regrets, either.    One thing I wasn’t doing was getting the books in my head down on paper. Or a disk. Or whatever. Oh, I finished a manuscript and sent it off. The publisher was interested but the book needed work. REVISING. Hmmm… I started the task, but started down a rabbit hole that took me through February ...

 Just Call Me Dory When I was a little girl, my mother would send me off to clean my room. After a while of “cleaning,” my mother would open the door and say “Becky, stop reading and clean your room.”   I would agree to do so saying, “As soon as I finish this chapter.”   I haven’t changed. If you’ve ever seen the movie  Finding Nemo …I’m the real life Dory. I am easily distracted and I seem to have the memory of gnat.   Most people don’t believe me when I say that. I think it’s because I tend to get things done. I’ve always been active at church and work and in our community. I take on projects, write books, and when I was young, I managed to keep up with three busy daughters.    Yet here I am typing a blog post late at night…okay it’s past midnight and my readers expect a post in their newsfeed in a few hours. I post on my blog every Wednesday. I maintain lists of ideas I want to write about.    For example, I considered writing about my rec...