Falling in Love with a Man of the Sea

Below is a telegram that my father sent to my mother some seventy years ago.

“Dear Toots, just a few lines, but don’t know if it will go ashore or not, as this place is only a port of call. I don’t know where we are going from here, but I don’t think it will be a long trip, so I hope to see you soon.”

 ~ Simon J. de Jong (Somewhere in England, January 28, 1945) 

I, like she, fell in love with a man of the sea. It was through reading his correspondence to her that I have become able to identify the characteristics of these men, and possibly better understand us, the women who love them. His letters to her have shown me that love is eternal and cannot be limited or confined to a specific time in history. This is my story and I believe it was my mother’s also. Continue reading “Falling in Love with a Man of the Sea” →

Color Outside the Lines and Become Your Own Woman

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; but who is going to stop me.” ~ Ayn Rand

Many of us women defer to the wants and needs of those who matter most to us, and so we learn to adopt roles that will accomplish those tasks. We grow up thinking this is what is expected of us and, therefore, what we should do.

The world sees us as wives, partners, mothers, daughters, sisters, employees and friends, Continue reading “Color Outside the Lines and Become Your Own Woman” →