I try to make my blog posts about me. Not only because I’m vain and self-centered (what? Y’all thought I didn’t know??) but because every English teacher I’ve ever had stressed that you have to write about what you know. And I know me. I was striving to name things I felt like I had conquered and it all seemed like such a sham. People tell me I’m competitive, but I don’t see it. I just want everybody to work as hard as me so we can get the desired result quicker. If one man isn’t rowing, it puts a strain on the rest of the crew to pull his weight. I can’t stand people who take up space and don’t contribute.

I realized I haven’t conquered much when I set down to it. There’s so much unfinished business out there. But let me tell you, I just finished a book by someone who has.

Jewel Kilcher.

She frankly amazes me. She fended pretty much for herself growing up in Alaska. She moved to Hawaii for a semester, staying with her aunt, just to try something different. When that didn’t work out, she got the money up and came home. She was yodeling in bars with her daddy when she wasn’t any bigger than a minute. She hitchhiked all over Alaska as a minor to go see her worthless mother. When she was 15, she raised the money to attend a private music school in the midwest for two years. Tom Bodett of Motel 6 fame helped her. She lived out of her beater car for a year, then a Volkswagon van. She showered in a stranger’s home who was running an escort service on the side. She spent several weeks or months (it was unclear to me) hitching around Mexico and contracted the first of many kidney infections. It’s a thousand wonders she didn’t die from one of them or somebody slashing her throat. Many times she was turned away because she wouldn’t work her body for her music. For someone who appears so fragile and sweet, she’s a dang fire ant, tenacious and determined, rebuilding and improving on anything she’s ever done. A philanthropist and folk singer, Jewel has truly built an empire from nothing. She seems so wispy and delicate but girl has got nerves of titanium. She gives credit to her ability to meditate her way through anxious times and distance herself from negative energy. She builds new pathways in her mind and refuses to get stuck in a worrying rut. I think she’s phenomenal. Even if you’re not a fan of her (pure) music, you could probably get a lot from her book. Here’s your handy dandy link: https://amzn.to/2HXkKrj I haven’t touched on hardly any of her accomplishments, but trust me, they’re there. And hard earned.

Jewel makes me think of Dolly, our local girl. She overcame so much and rose to the top like the angel she is. You would be hard pressed to find a single soul who has a bad word to say about her. She has charisma and charm in spades, not to mention a fantastic sense of humor and wit. Dolly grew up as poor as they come in a holler up the road from where I write. She had to fight tooth and nail against her brothers and sisters for a scrap of anything worth having. She got out of here to make somethin’ of herself, and boy did she! But girl worked for it. She’s a pretty as a speckled pup and bedecked in the snazziest dresses and jewelry possible, but still salt of the earth and humble. I don’t have to tell you about her awards won throughout her musical and film making careers. Everyone knows she’s fabulous, but did you know what all she does for the kids in this county? She sends them a book a month from birth to five years old through her foundation. When I went to the website to validate this, I found that this program now reaches children all over the world! I was astounded by how many books have been gifted since the conception in 1995. This act of wonderfulness touches my heart so much I can barely see to type. Read more at https://imaginationlibrary.com/ Dolly is truly something else. She also gives $1000 to each graduating senior at her Alma mater to encourage them to stay in school. Education and literacy are extremely important to her. It’s okay to talk and think like a hillbilly, but you better have some book sense to get through this world. After the wildfires in 2016, she also stepped up to help the displaced families in a very real way. With CASH. She is a true steel magnolia. Speaking of that, when the crew was filming down in Louisiana during the summer, all the actresses were frying. ‘The women were dressed for Christmas, and Dolly was sitting on the swing. She had on that white cashmere sweater with the marabou around the neck, and she was just swinging, cool as a cucumber. Julia said, “Dolly, we’re dying and you never say a word. Why don’t you let loose?” Dolly very serenely smiled and said, “When I was young and had nothing, I wanted to be rich and famous, and now I am. So I’m not going to complain about anything.” Taken from this Garden and Gun article: https://gardenandgun.com/feature/thirty-years-of-steel-magnolias/ Grace and beauty abound under all that makeup and sparkle. The God just shines out of some people, and she’s one of them. We’ll probably never know the extent to which she helps people, all the souls she’s touched.

Scarlett O’Hara, even though fictitious, is another strong willed, driven, courageous woman who conquered Yankees, Carpetbaggers, destitution, and starvation. All anybody gave her credit for was a pretty face. Scarlett raised her chin and got to work, doing whatever had to be done to not perish like so many after the War. Call her what you will, but call me back after you’ve birthed a baby with Sherman burning down the city around you, fled in a wagon with said mother and child behind a stolen mule to travel hundreds of miles of rutted dirt roads across enemy territory to find your home ransacked, your Momma dead, and your Daddy crazy. Tell me you’ve conquered life after you’ve thrown dirt in the face of a scallywag trying to buy your home, slapped the jawteeth loose of two Southern gentlemen (done!), picked cotton till your hands blistered and calloused, killed a Yankee deserter, stood up to the face of old Atlanta for decades, and buried two husbands and a child. When you’ve pulled yourself up by your bootstraps after you declare your true feelings to the loves of your life and they look right through you and leave. When you make a way for the rest of your life.

Yeah. I’d want Scarlett in my corner every time.

You better watch these women who seem to be all bosom and no brains. They conquer worlds.