Hello, everyone! It is good to be back! I am La Wanna Parker, and this is my first post on my new blog. This first blog is to give you some insight into me.

I stopped writing when my husband’s cancer returned after an eleven-year reprieve. I am thankful for those eleven years with him. When cancer returned, we thought he would be able to fight it again as before, but it came back far more aggressive than we anticipated, and he never even got the opportunity to fight it.

I am grateful that all the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were there with him for those final days. They were there to support me as well, and that made it easier to get through the loss. I miss his presence, but I am glad he is no longer in pain.

The holidays were especially hard for me and delayed my time of re-entering the blogging world. You should know that this blog, for now anyway, is not dedicated to any particular niche. I will leave it up to you to tell me if there is anything you would like me to share with you.

What this means is, I will share tips, advice, stories (real, with names changed or left out, books that I read), and any pearls of wisdom I have to offer. So, if you have a preference as to what you want me to share here, please let me know in the comments below and keep it clean.

Now, to tell you a little about myself. As I mentioned, I am the proud mother of four boys, 15 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. I raised one of my grandsons from infancy to adulthood and a niece. I love them all, and I am so proud of them.

I have an interest in a wide variety of things, which causes me problems in deciding what one thing I want to concentrate on. I love speaking to inspire and motivate individuals, I enjoy putting words to paper, and I have a collection of books that would rival a bookstore. In my house, I have ten bookshelves doubled with books. On my laptop and phone, I have more than 8 thousand books. I am especially passionate about collecting and reading romance stories.

From 1980 until 2003, I read tons of historical romances, and I never went anywhere that I didn’t have at least 10 – 12 books with me. In 2003, I discovered pdf ebooks, and my genre of romance changed. My reading now included romance stories with vampires, werewolves, all sorts of shapeshifters, and aliens, who were the heroes and heroines, and I now included contemporaries. So, please, don’t buy me any books as a gift, because I am very selective in what I read.

I also have a great love for the old black and white westerns. I grew up watching westerns every day of the week and if I was in the house all day Saturdays and Sundays. I do not care for the spaghetti westerns that later became so popular: the one exception, The Magnificent Seven with Yule Bryner and Steve McQueen. I still remember the words to the song they played for the advertisement for the movie.

Speaking of movies, the one movie I have seen the most is The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston and Yul Bryner. If I saw it once, I saw it 30 times, and that was at the movies. When it came to television, I was there every single time they showed it for Christmas, and I have two copies of it for myself.

From the time the Christmas stories start showing in November, I watch as many as I can until the season is over. My favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Christmas. My lights go up on December first and come down on January third and sometimes later. I enjoy cooking for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Easter.

I watched One Life to Live and All My Children off and on from the first day they came on the air when they were initially only on for 15 minutes a day until they were off ABC. The same for General Hospital and I still watch it faithfully by recording it every day and catching up on the weekend.

I love dancing and trying to sing even though I have no rhythm or soul when it comes to dancing or singing like a black girl. That’s ok; I do the best I can and enjoy myself while I am dancing or attempting to sing.

I do a little crocheting, nothing fancy, embroidering, and I used to sew all my clothes. I have been a beauty pageant director of three different beauty pageants and a fashion show director, in which I taught modeling, personal development, and promoted my girls in my fashion shows. I have also modeled, and I enjoyed being on stage.

I served on the board of directors in North Highlands when one of the directors moved out of the area, and I was also Honorary Vice Mayor twice in North Highlands, I had an article written about me as one of the movers and shakers of North Highlands. It was an honor to be recognized at an awards dinner as along with nine other women as one of the top ten community leaders in Sacramento.

You are probably wondering if I was busy in all these things, how did I have time for my sons. Well, I did it! I took them to their practices, and I went to their games. I am not a sports enthusiast, so I didn’t always know what was going on in the games, but I was there for my children. Including the one time, I sat on the team side.

When I think back, I wonder how I did it all! I just had so much energy in those days. I even exercised every day. I stopped my exercise routine and everything else when I lost my first-born son. My responsibility to the other boys, and my belief in God helped me through that trying time.

Well, that’s enough about me for now. From time to time, I will share other tidbits about me, the people, and trials that helped shape me into who I am today and to be married for over fifty years to one man when I didn’t believe we would last six months.

I hope this wasn’t too much, and you return to find out what other things I have to share. Until tomorrow, keep the faith and stay safe. You matter! lw