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Strength [1]

['View Profile', 'Back Of Bourke']

Date: 2026-04-21  

I have always been told all my life that I was a strong woman. It’s not like I had a choice. I was the only girl among 4 boys. I was expected to be the unpaid babysitter. I had a Dad who was too affectionate and a Mom who never understood me.

I have always been an artist with an artistic temperament. I majored in Theater in college. I am a writer and currently finishing up my first Steampunk novel.

I was the one whom my Mom relied on after Dad died. She paid for a new roof and it leaked the first time it rained. I went after the guy with the Better Business Bureau. I finally gave up a job I loved to move back home to take a job I hated and take care of her. I got her to retire and was her caregiver until her death.

I moved to North Carolina to care for my older brother’s child and help her after her first husband left her with three children under the age of 6 and $20.00 and one suitcase of clothes for all of them. I convinced her to marry her current husband. I took her oldest all over town so he could fulfill his dream of being in the Navy on a nuclear submarine.

I took care of my younger brother Reid who had destroyed his health with neglect of his diabetes. I held his hand for 8 hours before he died because in his last coherent moment I promised I wouldn’t leave him.

I took in my Mom’s cat Pixie after Mom passed away. I kept her until her sudden death at 20.

What people don’t understand is that being strong isn’t easy. There are times when I feel vulnerable. Right now I have had a stroke and it has badly damaged my vision. I have had to sell my beloved car since I can no longer see well enough to drive.

I will carry on. Who else is going to understand why I introduced the character of Satan in my novel. No one else sees the images in my head that I will be painting.

So I guess I should just put on my “I am woman hear me roar” song. Someone needs to be strong and I have had lots of practice.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/21/800024678/community/strength/

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