The LIEBSTER Award 2017.

Hello fellow bloggers.

I am thrilled to be nominated for the most popular award on WordPress, the LIEBSTER AWARD 2017. Thank you so much, Dee Kay at The Immortal Arts by Dee Kay! Dee Kay’s blog is a must-read. He is a phenomenal wordsmith; short stories, poems and soul-searching posts. Check out his site!

The following are the 10 questions I received from Dee Kay. I will do my best to answer his questions then it is time for me to come up with 10 questions for my nominees, five to ten bloggers who I find interesting and as I have discovered these blogs I want to share them with you!

Questions from Dee Kay to ME.

1. What is YOUR story? Write it in less than 250 words.

I am a Fibromyalgia Advocate, a blogger, an author, and a freelance copywriter. I am a woman who grew up in a small town of 400 people in Minnesota. I loved to watch airplanes fly through the clouds and pretend I was on one of those planes going somewhere exotic and vital. I was a fat child and was teased in elementary school, never bullied. Middle school, I lost the baby fat. High school was a breeze for me; I experienced boyfriends, best friends, cliques, and being nominated for Snowball Queen. (I didn’t win.) I went to college and worked in the social work/criminal justice arena for 20 years. I lived in Seattle for about five years, now I reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I married a man from that little town of 400 people I grew up in (he was always my secret crush) in 2004. I’ve had fibromyalgia for 21 years.

2. What according to you has been the turning point in your life and Why?

I was married and living well with my fibromyalgia. Things in my life had become do-able, and I was finally at peace. Then I developed idiopathic pancreatitis. It was three years of fighting for my life. Lengthy hospital stays and seven surgeries. Signing two DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) orders after the surgeon asked me to what lengths did I want him to go to keep me alive after the surgery. I was never expected to live. This was a turning point! A screaming wake-up and find some purpose in your life moment… so here I am.

3. If you are granted a wish to build a dream neighborhood, which 5 famous people (Past and present) would you choose and why?

Oh my! I would pick; Lucille Ball, Joan Rivers, Ethel Berge (my Grandma), Coco Channel and Sidonie Gabrielle Colette. Why? These women were smart, forward thinkers, and funny. I would need to live there too! Just to watch the interaction would be priceless and to think what I could learn!!!

4. What one message would you like to give to a teenager who is suffering from depression?

“Never, ever, ever, give up.”

5. If you have the power to change one thing/situation from your past, then what would it be and why?

I wouldn’t. 

5. Name 5 movies that had a real impact on you?

• Sophie’s Choice.
• I Dreamed of Africa.
• Taking Chance.
• Blackhawk Down.
• 13 Hours.

6. What is your take on WARS? Do you think wars are important to shape the world?

War should be a severe teacher, but it is not because of how we receive information today. Real journalism is dead. There is nothing glamorous about war. Until we learn as a ‘population of the earth’ to get along, this world will continue to be at war. There are some extremely dangerous people in this world. There are times when we must take a stand as a nation that is considered to be a ‘superpower’ and say, “NO!” The result of taking that stand so far, unfortunately,  has been war. 

7. What would be your final words to your loved ones on your deathbed?

“I’m ready.”

8. Share an incident with us that was so overwhelming and touching that it still fill your heart with emotions?

The last hour with my brother as he lay in a hospital bed dying from an aggressive form of cancer. I held his hand and whispered the bedtime prayer we learned as children into his ear, ” Now I lay me down to sleep…” when I was finished, I told him it was OK to go. Then he did. 

9. Write a letter to any of the following (500 words)

• Love
• Death
• Time
• You (From the future/past)
• A friend you lost.

Parameters of living a good life ~according to me!

Life is a process of surrender. Letting go of what no longer serves us and obtaining all that makes us better human beings. This can be accomplished. Understand your worth and what you need. Wanting and needing are two separate entities. Things will come to you if you have created space in your life for these things to enter. Choose what you need. Surrender what you do not. ~Kim

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So here are my nominees!

***But first … my request is simple to my nominees, post 10 pictures of yourself, your surroundings, that tell us who you are? Any 10 that you believe describe your life! The choice is yours, and I can not wait to see!***

MJ Aragon; Fibro Warrior, My New Normal.

Wendy Holcombe;  Picnic with Ants

CAZ; Invisibly Me

JoAnna; ArtbyJWP, Find a Way

Terri; Reclaiming Hope

There are so many others, but I know they have recently received this award! And so very deserving of this award, many have been two or three-time winners! I will stop with these five incredible bloggers and hope they will accept and nominate bloggers of their choice as well.

Many Thanks, Dee Kay!

~Kim