birthday wishes: Cheryl Williams

Today, Friday April 20, 2007 is Cheryl Williams’, everyone’s sweetheart’s birthday.  It a landmark birthday and I am glad that we at the birthday club are able to celebrate it with her.

Cheryl has done her own write up so all I have to do is post it here:
 
I've been married for 27 years. I have three children, ages 26, 22, and 15. I have no grandchildren (yet), but desperately want some. I live in Charlotte, NC, and have lived here for 27 years.
 
Currently I do not work outside of the home, although I have in the past. I am making money writing at the present time, and taking a writing class. I was a stay at home mom for many years, and also was a preschool teacher for several years. My favorite job was working as a Case Manager with abused and neglected children. It was a very physically and emotionally draining job, but I loved it, and felt like I was doing something to make the world a better place.
 
I have been writing since I was 15 years old. I was first published in 1988 in Our Little Friend, which is a children's magazine. I had several children's short stories/poems published in Our Little Friend, and also in Primary Treasure. Since then I have been published in Home Life, Front Porch, True Romance, as well as several e-zines. I had some true stories published in a book called Hometown Memories, and have also written articles for The Charlotte Observer. I am currently taking an advanced writing course, and the entire course is writing a novel. The novel I chose to write is targeted at teenage girls, and it deals with body image and self-esteem.

Remember John-Boy on The Waltons? I used to be amazed at how he could take everyday life and then sit down and write about it at the end of the day and make it sound so beautiful. He inspired me. I also had teachers who were an inspiration. Poetry has always been my first love, both reading and writing it. I began writing as a form of therapy to myself. As a teenager, I was sexually abused, and writing was an outlet for me...a means to get my feelings out.
 
I collect books of poetry, and especially love old or unusual volumes.
  

I love thunderstorms...especially if it is really windy. I find it exhilarating. One of my secret desires is to go storm-chasing. I also love to sing, and when nobody is around, you can find me singing into a broom handle with the music pumped up loud.
 
My pet peeves happen to be people who are always late and people who do nothing but talk about themselves.

Child abuse deeply concerns me...especially sexual abuse. It is so rampant, and the effects are far reaching. Yet there seems to be little consequence for the perpetrators. Religious intolerance bothers me as well. Denominations/religions fighting and arguing and downing each other...all in the name of God...pointing judgmental fingers. Any kind of social prejudice bothers me deeply....whether it be toward a racial/ethnic group or towards gays. It bothers me because we are what we are and people need to realize that NOBODY is perfect.....but all of us have the capacity to love in the midst of our imperfections.
 
In terms of important events, the birth of my children is at the top of that list. They opened my eyes to the meaning of REAL love.

All of the difficult times I have been through have been important in that they have made me stronger and a better person. This includes my sexual abuse as a teenager. It includes having a baby girl who was stillborn in which I had to give birth and have her funeral all in the course of a few days.

The one thing that I would like to do that I have not already done is to go storm chasing out in the midwest in Tornado Alley.
 
Actually, my favorite birthday memory happened this past weekend. My family held a surprise birthday party for me, and I was VERY surprised. I can't believe they pulled it off! It was so much fun, having my children, my sister's family, and my best friends here sharing the big 5-0.

If I could have any birthday wish come true, real or fiction, possible or impossible my wish would be for a cottage overlooking the Pacific Coast, where I could write and spend my days in peace......either alone or with the love of my life.
  

Please post the link here:http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976930341 (The Ravages of War) as the article I wish to draw your attention to for my birthday.
 

 Janelle, Goodness...I TRULY have no favorite song, but I love Josh Groban. So surprise me...
 Happy birthday Cheryl from all your friends at gather, we hope we have made your day a memorial one.

Note to the birthday club members.  If you have not yet submitted your birthday dates to me please to so.  I need to prepare well enough in advance. Furthemore, when I send you the questions to do your celebration I need to have them back, at least one day prior to your birthday.

Carol Roach: winterose.gather.com

The birthday Club:

http://thebirthdayclub.gather.com/