WHO AM I??!

This entry is dedicated to a new reader who has raised personal questions about who I am...

  I am Win. I have two married daughters. Last year, they both had babies, so I have two grandaughters. I live about six hours away from them in a city in south Texas, a few minutes away from the Mexican border, but to me, Corpus Christi will always be home......                      

I moved to lower South Texas about four years ago, because my mother and my brother had not talked in 15 years. It was very hard for my brother to forgive my mother, but last year, I finally got them talking. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of money last year when I fell, and I havent made enough money so far to return to the area that I love. But then, I dont know where God wants to put me, yet.

I have always lived close to the ocean, but now I rent an upstairs one-bedroom apartment with a balcony and a view of the swimming pool. Big difference! Big! I miss the sailboats going by... Oh well... My companions are an African grey cockatiel named Tidbit  and a beta named Galileo.

Tidbit killed her mate the day before Thanksgiving the first year I lived here, so she is a widow. Galileo has never been married. =.) I guess we have a "three's company" kind of relationship.

For the past four years, I have been working for an employment agency. I am a job developer. I find jobs for people, I provide career counseling, I facilitate unemployment orientations in English and Spanish, and I am taking an online course to become a certified employment specialist, which I already am, but I will be one of the few to have the certificate. I like my current job, because it is only 40 hours a week. The first time I got off at 5:00 p.m., I didnt know what to do with myself, and to top it off, I get two whole days off every week on Saturday and Sunday. I no longer have to carry a phone or a beeper, I get to sleep all night without being interrupted, and I get to drive my car to work and back, period. WOW! What a big change for me!

Career: I have a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice and I am a Qualified Mental Health Professional. My career has included investigations in child abuse, crisis intervention and suicide prevention, counseling in a jail, staff facilitator for youth substance abuse camps, case management and supportive counseling of the mentally ill and criminally insane, prison ministry, St Vincent de Paul Society ministry and crisis intervention, career case management of welfare recipients, and now vocational counseling and job development. Yes, I am and will forever be a Superhero.

 Once you become a Superhero, it is hard to be an ordinary human being. =.)

I miss my line of work and I miss the money, too, but I dont miss the crazy hours and the wear and tear on my car. At my last job, I wore out five cars in eight years.

Hobbies: I love fine art and I like to draw. One of my sketches made it to Washington, D.C., and I used to do a comic strip called "La Reina." I want to write and illustrate a children's book.

When I was in high school, I would design clothes and make them the same day.  I made all of my daughter's formal gowns when she was in high school, and the fashions that she wore when she was in a beauty pagent.  I especially favor the glamour fashions of the 1930's, 1940's and early 1950's and the fun fashions of the 1970's and 1980's. I used to make most of my clothes, and I have some material and patterns ready to sew up some fashions when I lose a little more weight.

In my youth, I used to run at the track  and I would workout six days a week,  and then, I would go dancing once a week....  When I was healthy and at top form, I could lift up to 210 lbs. That's a lot for a little girl. =.)

Life Lessons: I have survived physical abuse, incest, and sexual abuse in my childhood and in my adult life. I have been a single parent most of my life and we were homeless for almost 2 years. I have been close to death more times than I can remember. I had a life-death experience, and the doctors said that I would never walk again but I proved them wrong, time and time again! Yay! Because of my many health problems and the fall last year, my exercise program has become very limited, but I continue to work and I continue to serve the Lord by using the lessons that life has taught me to help others to lead more productive lives.

That is my life in a nutshell. I have no current boyfriend, although Richard Gere keeps calling me and bugging me at work, but he knows I secretly love it! AND... I do date, because I am not dead. =.) 

The dot beside the mouth in my smile is my beauty mark. LOL...

Thank you for visiting my journal, my new friend. I hope you will continue to visit, and I hope we will always be friends.

Besos,

Win =.)