From Amateur Ballroom Dancer to Homestead Woman

When I decided to stay in San Diego, California and focus on writing and on dancing, I didn't think I would ever move back to Texas. I certainly didn't know that I would eventually move to a three-quarter acre patch of land, build a tiny home out of recycled materials, and make plans to plant a series of gardens to feed myself, a small flock of chickens, and a mongrel pup that lived twice after two failed attempts by a neighbor who likes to poison puppies.

To be brutally clear, I vowed to never set foot on Texas soil unless I was visiting my children. As I noted in one of my earlier essays, Fate loves irony.

I struggled for almost ten years in San Diego. I worked at a variety of jobs, some minimum wage and others with a decent salary and benefits package. Illness, supposedly better job opportunities, and lay offs kept me on my toes and underpaid financially. I tried to make friends and fit in with the SoCal lifestyle. I even took ballroom dance lessons for over seven years, turning the hobby into a career by writing for and about professional dancers. This venture proved to be the most hectic, terrifying, and rewarding of a lifetime of broken dreams and high expectations.

I decided to take that writing on the road, making my way slowly across the country to eventually relocate closer to my sons while maintaining a safe distance from the Lone Star State. One setback after another sent me scurrying to the small, abandoned trailer park that my father owned until his death over a quarter of a century ago.

I thought my life had been an adventure before I my enforced homesteading phase; I encountered a whole new set of experiences beginning in early August 2019. True to my nature as a former marine, a trained martial artist, and a would-be ballroom dancer, I bounced back from every setback and am still moving forward to build a new life, using my skills as a writer to fund new projects while keeping a decidedly slanted roof over my head.

This folder is dedicated to updates on my tiny house, my gardens, and the welfare of the animals under my care.

Please join me regularly to share the adventure and maybe have a laugh or two along the way.