Friday, July 16 was a momentous day in my life. I wrote my first newspaper column, and I successfully grew my first tomato in Texas soil. Truthfully had I ever been asked the odds of either one of those things, I would have given greater odds to the former rather than the latter. One would think the opposite would be true, wouldn’t you? Let me give you a little background …

My family relocated to Texas from Ohio in 2013. As a written statement that doesn’t like anything tremendous. In fact, the Texans I know will all tell you that that was a step up in the world for me. I won’t dispute that living in Texas is great, but I will acknowledge that moving cross country was more life-changing than I had anticipated. First, there was the language barrier. Pop, grade cards, and cupboards suddenly resulted in peculiar looks from people. Then I had to adapt to Christmas without snow (not going to lie, this remains odd to me). And after years of growing beautiful flowers and gardens with an abundance of my all-time favorite food, cherry tomatoes, I suddenly found I could barely grow weeds. I eventually mastered flowers with the advice from some wonderful Texans, but after three unsuccessful attempts I was sure I would never grow another tomato.

It was disappointing, but easy to give up on hopes of a garden. At 46 years old and a figure that I will describe as having a lap that is comfy to sit on and hugs that feel squishy, being outside in the heat and spending time on my knees to weed and dig often felt like more of a workout than I wanted to do. To add to that, I have seven kids (some biological and some step, but all sure to tell you that I am uncool and embarrassing) and four of them still live at home. My truck has over 235,000 miles on it because apparently my driving ability is the key to them living their best lives. For a woman whose first child was born 26 years ago and whose youngest child is 7, free time to pursue a hobby for myself is as elusive as private time in the bathroom – seriously, I haven’t used the bathroom alone since 1993. Gardening just took a back seat. Life moved on. I volunteered to be a Girl Scout Leader, I re-entered the workforce, I learned to appreciate ceiling fans and cool drinks on the porch as opposed to being inside just because the thermostat read triple digits for the 18th day in a row, and I discovered Buc-ee’s really is a pretty cool place. I didn’t try to grow tomatoes for a few years.

2021 rolled around and thanks to the stubbornness that I inherited from my father nagging at me and the sweat and support of my husband which cut my workload by half, a new garden was planted. And through the encouragement of a friend, I applied to write a column for The Sealy News. The day The Sealy News offered me the opportunity to write a weekly article about mom life, my first tomato ripened to the point it could be picked. I don’t know which event made me more excited! Neither thing really seemed like anything I would ever accomplish in my lifetime. In hindsight, I probably should have purchased a Mega Millions ticket that day.

I wanted my first article to be somewhat introductory. After all, my goal here is for you to take the little downtime you have and spend part of it reading my words so I should introduce myself and make a good impression. On the other hand, I grew a tomato in Texas! I mean, in my world that is worthy of a newspaper headline! So, I come to you today sharing that I am a middle-aged mother with as many kids as the woman who lived in a shoe. I have six dogs, three cats, a rescue horse, and a blind rescue cow (and yes, my husband has already told me that most Texans refer to those types of cows as ribeyes).

I hope to make you laugh and make you cry with the things I share. I hope to make you reflect on life and to inspire you at least once. I am loyal as the day is long and stubborn as a mule. I believe laughing at ourselves is one of the greatest skills to have, judging people should be left for the courts, helping your neighbor should come before trying to one-up them, and every moment in life is a gift and lesson if you are willing to see it. Today’s life lesson is pretty obvious; if a Yankee can come to Texas and put down roots and thrive, writing newspaper columns and growing tomatoes, then with hope, effort, and perseverance, along with a little help from family and friends, then anyone can do anything.

Here’s to gardens full of tomatoes and sharing many more of life’s moments with all of you!

If a Yankee can come to Texas and put down roots and thrive, writing newspaper columns and growing tomatoes, then with hope, effort, and perseverance, along with a little help from family and friends, then anyone can do anything.