: About Me

Hello, there. Let me introduce myself, I'm Jerriann. I live in Tyler, Texas - a small town of 100,000 about 90 miles east of Dallas. We live on a serene private lake an a couple of acres filled with ancient trees. It's a sweet spot.

I'm blissfully married to Doug... the love of my life. I have two grown children, Nathan and Ashli ages 29 and 27. Within the last year I've graduated from being a prime example of the Sandwich generation - taking care of my parents (Mom lives with us and Dad lives within 30 minutes of us) and finally launching my kids. Why so late to launch the kids? Well, Nathan has been on his own for years but Ashli was finishing her Masters and Law degree.

I'm a career woman with a busy work life. I work for Trane (heating and air conditioning manufacturer) as the leader of training department. The challenge is that my team does not train employees, but rather, our sales force - the folks who sell our products. I love it. 26 years in the training and development field proves it.

My philosophy - Life is Short. Laugh til you snort!

p.s. Vicki Stockard Phipps is a lifelong friend of mine. Stop by and read her articles sometime. She is brilliant, beautiful and talented.

My passion is ...

Laughter, joyfulness, finding fun.

I know too much about ...

Self doubt.

My parents always told me ...

"Climb though the rocks be rugged".

My childhood ambition ...

Be a teacher... which is my career, not in school, but in the corporate world.

My favorite memory ...

Before age 10: playing on the farm. Between 10-20: Football games; 20-30: Raising babies; 30-40: Marrying Doug; 40-50: Moving to the lake; 50-Now: Dancing with Doug

Why I write ...

To express myself

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Watching the sun reflect off of the still lake

My first job ...

Snack bar at discount store. It saved me from working retail and food service!

My best moment ...

When I'm fully present while dancing with my husband.

My inspiration ...

Laughter!

Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Family and the joy of children

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The language of family life is like inside jokes. We get it, other's don't. Snunks. That's what my daughter called skunks when she was 4. I thought it was cute. The elementary school speech therapist didn't and taught her to say it properly. We still call them snunks. She was 8. We were in the car. Her dad was driving and in a rotten mood. I said, "Ashli, say funny things to make your Dad smile". She leaned forward and in her soft voice, said, "Dad, funny things." It worked. We still utter the words "funny things" to make each other smile. Waving my spatula in warning, I told my 4-year-old...

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