I am a widow with 2.5 children and 5.5 grandchildren.  HUH?????  You must be thinking right about now that I'm totally off my rocker, right?  And you're wondering how I can end up with  .5 of a child.  I mean, who ever heard of having one half of a child and  one half of a grandchild, right?  Simple, really.  I have an adopted grandson, so he's my son and my grandson and I count him as half of each, lol.

HERE IS A BIT ABOUT ME:

My name is Diane and I'm what many would call a BBW or a "Big Beautiful Woman".  I've been a widow going on 9 year s come October 2, 2008 and I had to retire due to disability in 1994.  Since I can no longer care for a household by myself and since my family could use the little extra in funds that I pay for room and board, my son and I live with  live with my youngest daughter (my son's natural mom),her hubby and the rest of their brood of four more children. (There are 8 family members living in our house plus my son's best friend,  so that make for a household size of 9).  To say the least it makes for an interesting and often lively experience. 

I was born and raised in Dallas, Tx, and my natural daughters were born in Dallas, but only lived there up until the ages of 6 and 4 years of age.  During a slump in our personal economy in  1981 we headed for greener pastures, landing on Oklahoma City at first and then migrating east to Tulsa, Ok in 1983. We fell in love with Tulsa and put down deep roots.

Though the majority of my family still lives in Texas, we raised our children in Tulsa for the greatest portion of their lives and have a huge extended surrogate family in the form of friends. I'm generally know to my children's friends  as "Mom"and their friend's children "Mammaw".  My own children call me "Ma" and they allow a couple of their closest friends to call me "Ma", but calling me that without their permission is not generally recommended.

I have been married twice, the first (the one my parents approved) ended in divorce after 5 years and the second, which was to my soul-mate, ended after 26 years of marriage when I woke up one morning in October, 1999, to find that my husband had expired in his sleep due to a massive heart attack.

I attended Richardson High School, Richardson, Tx, (class of 1968) and Tulsa Community College. Though most of my career had centered on bookkeeping up until 1984, I finally found my niche when I decided to pursue logistics.  At the time of my retirement due to disability in 1994, I was Corporate Supervisor of Distribution Services for a major filtration manufacturer, with direct report from 3 domestic plants and joint supervision of 2 internationation plants.

I am an avid reader, with particular interest in fiction, gobbling down about 3 to 5 books a week.  My favorite genres are Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Mystery and Historical Novels. AdditionallyI enjoy gardening and am looking forward to one day having raised beds so I can pursue that hobby again.  I enjoy spending quite a bit of time on the web at social network sites, playing games, chatting and etc., but other than that (as I must frequently keep my feet elevated), I spend the rest of my time channel surfing on the "boob tube".

Other than my family, from the time I was a small child my largest passion has been music, particulary singing.  After numerous years of voice training, I was honored to have been a soloist in my high school choir, having also performed 16th century chamber music with a select group called the Madrigal Singers.  During high school I was in  in the all state and all region choirs (consisting of the best in 5 states) and won many 1st place ribbons and/or trophies in solo, duet, trio and quartet, and was honored by the USO for performing for the troups visiting my home town of Dallas, Tx, during the Vietnam War.  However, instead of pursuing a career in music, at the age of 18 I chose to marry instead of going to college at that time and it will remain the biggest regret of my life as I can never quit wondering what might have been.

Like many ofyou I have been through a number of hardships in my life (17 surgeries - actually having briefly died on the operating table while delivering  my first child via c-section).  I have lost so of many precious loved ones ( some very tragically) and at one point was even forced to join the ranks of the homless as a family of 4 which included 2 small children.  But I've also been very blessed and have even seen  wonderful miracles performed in my life and the lives of others. 

Even though I have not alway been the kind of person the Good Lord wanted me to be, He has been my ever present rock in times of trouble and blessed me with a spectacularly warm, loving and supportive group family and friends.

Further blessings included having 26 wonderfully bumpy years with the love of my life, and having so far have defied the odds as I have yet to become paralyzed as was prediced by physicians more than 13 years ago.  I sincerely believe that I owe it to the prayers of my mom, grandmothers, sisters, aunt/uncles, many friends and church groups. Their support has never waiver and their prayers and unconditional love has made all the difference in my life.

 I would never have made it with out them.  To each and every one I send my undying love and gratitude.