Thank you for visiting my Blog. 

My name is Diane Cook and I live in a small rural town in Eastern, Virginia, where at certain vantage points one can see the Chesapeake Bay.  The environment here is slower moving, lacking in bright street lights and with the space to be by yourself if you so choose.

Location Background:

I didn’t find this place, my parents did, back in the late 60’s early 70’s when they were looking for a retirement location.  It took them a number of trips and attempted purchases before re-locating to this parcel of land. A plot of land large enough to have a good-size garden, yet not too large to maintain. And most important of all features, there needed to be a dock either at the property or nearby to satisfy my father’s love of the water.  

My father actually had 3 loves.  And their retirement location needed to support all three.  Of utmost importance to him was his love for my step-mother.  So naturally, she had to like the area and their new home. The other features were land sufficient for both vegetables and flowers (he was a 5th generation florist growing many of his own flowers) and a place to both easily dock and utilize his boat.

They found the land and then they chose a pre-fab home and made changes to suit their needs.  After delivery and installation, they built on an enclosed breezeway and a garage to complete their retirement oasis. They happily lived here for 30 years until they died. 

I visited them often and came to love the location as well.  When they died, they left the house to me. At first my significant other and I just spent the winters here as it was warmer than where we lived.  Then as we aged and had difficulty maintaining our house and yard, we moved here permanently.  

My Background:

I grew up in a rural area on 20 acres of land in the center of Maryland.  My parents had two children, myself and my older sister. We were always introduced as the one (my sister) born before the war and the one (me) after the war..  The “war” being WWII.

On some level, very early on, I knew I was different from my family.  I was the only “lefty” among the right-handers, I loved exploring the land and its buildings and later on, I became the only plant-eater among the meat lovers.

But I didn’t realize or truly value my “differentness”, I did all sorts of things just trying to “fit in” and be accepted.  No matter what I did, it was never quite enough or didn’t last long enough. Except it did last long enough for me to “stuff” what and who I was so far inside of me that even I didn’t know who I was. Thus, I grew up learning and being rewarded (on various levels) for being able to please people reinforcing the belief I was not enough. I grew up experiencing what many children do, the trauma of my parent’s divorce, moving to a new town (“citified” not the country I needed) and school trying to “fit-in” and make friends, and being rejected by my cousins.  I started staying late at school and working at a part-time job at every possible opportunity just to avoid being at home. I longed for the day when I would be old enough and could move back to the area where I began life.

That day occurred at the end of my junior year.  My father had secured a summer office job for upcoming high school seniors.  By this time my father had re-married and had purchased the house and the immediate land around it where I lived as a child.  The rest of the property and my father’s business had been sold as a part of my parents’ divorce.

The job was supposed to be just for the summer.  But as September approached my father asked me if I wanted to remain and finish High School here.  YES, flew out of my mouth before I took my next breath. The necessary legal arrangements were made, and my belongings were relocated to the house and bedroom I occupied as a child.

I so respected my father I listened to his advice for my future after school.  Because of his experience living through the depression, he said I should work for the government and college wasn’t necessary for girls.  And that was exactly what I did.

I’ll save for another opportunity to elaborate on my relationships, marriages, and work history.  The underlying theme was the same: lack of self-value or worth, intertwined with pleasing people.

I immensely enjoyed working and was always trying to improve and advance.  At various times, possibly the reaction to what was going on in my life, small cracks would open and I would see glimpses inside of myself or go searching for who I was and why was I here?

Over the years this grew more and more important to me.  The religion of my childhood could not answer or provide the comfort I needed.  I learned new terminology: the soul, karma, reincarnation, etc. And this propelled me forward.  I had a thirst to answer the meaning of life and what was my soul’s purpose? Why was I here?

It was like I was leading two lives.  During the day I worked never having the luxury of talking about what really interested me.  That aspect would be left to the hours outside of work. Much later in my career, I would meet a person or two during my working hours that I could converse with and share my spirituality.  Finally in my retirement, I have had the time to pursue my true interests and my circle of like-minded friends is constantly expanding.

Stepping out of the Closet:

It has been more than 20 years since I last held a full-time paying job and still I have been pursuing finding the “inner me”.  I just graduated from Belinda Womack’s Graduate Program — visit BelindaWomack.com for more information about Belinda and all her services and programs.  I can wholeheartedly recommend them all!

I have finally found myself and it is time I come out of the closet to both be and share the person I was born to be.  If you have read this entire About Page — As Paul Harvey used to say. — “Now you know the rest of the story.”

My blog is my vehicle to share snippets of my life and what I have found to be my truth for all that are interested.  You will find levels of humor in all that I write for it is what helped me persevere. I laugh at myself and my situations often.  I don’t believe you can take life too seriously for if you do, in my opinion, it will be a shorter unhappy life.

If you are an English major, I apologize ahead of time, my writing style is one of sitting at the breakfast table, talking to you on the phone, or sending you a quick email.  Punctuation rules, slang, run-on sentences and everything else your English teacher circled with her red pencil you will find somewhere in my writings. I want to connect with your heart — not your mental faculties.  I also use a lot of !!!!!s for emphasis because you can’t see my face or hear my voice.

The goal of my Blog is threefold:  I always want to put a smile on your face and maybe a laugh in your belly; help you see the “humor” in your own situation; and maybe just maybe inspire you to begin or continue your own search for your authentic self.

Enjoy!