C Word--It's All About the Children

My "C" word is children. Although, I never gave birth to any, I’ve been surrounded by them since I entered this world. I had eight brothers and sisters. I’m the baby. When you come from a clan that large you soon have oodles of nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. I lost count around twenty years ago—at fifty plus.

When people would ask me why I didn't have any children, I would jokingly reply, “I hate kids.” The truth is, I’ve spent my entire life working with those little “curtain climbers." I’ve taught, represented, tutored, counseled, and coached them. I even helped raise one son who I inherited from a relationship. He’s wonderful, but I have to give his father the credit for doing such a fabulous job. He was consistent, caring, and conscious of what was going on in his child’s world. And as a result, Bobby grew up to be a well functioning member of society. In fact he’s now an attorney—ok, so he's not perfect (and that's the part he got from me.)

Our children are our most cherished commodity. They need our protection, our love, and our direction in this crazy cosmos. I’ve seen so much heartache and pain among those little ones with my stint at juvenile court. That’s part of the reason I wrote my novel, The Advocate. It deals with a fictional juvenile court case while it delves into some of the realities of child abuse.

Life is all about the children and the joy they bring into our lives. What have you done lately to make a child’s day special? Or what has a child done that made you smile?

Bald is Beautiful

I received a message yesterday from my friend, Jo, in Texas. She is scheduled to have her head shaved next week. She has volunteered to do this in an effort to raise money for St. Baldrick's childhood cancer research. She has less than a week to go to reach her goal of $2000. So far, she has about $1100. I think it's an incredible thing she is doing.


I'm sharing this because I'm so impressed when people give this much of themselves. Although I'm not quite ready to have my head shaved, I was not at all surprised to hear Jo was going that extra mile. So instead, I'm helping to support her in this quest. (When I finally decide to cut my hair, I will donate it to the cause.)


How many of us are willing to do what Jo is doing? Not everyone has to go that far, but if you want to get involved, please go to http://www.stbaldricks.org/ and click on the “Find A Participant” tab. Then type her name (Jo Jensen) in the name field and make an online donation to this important cause! She'll be posting an “AFTER” photo for you to see that she kept her promise of shaving her head just to raise money for pediatric cancer research.


Yes, bald is beautiful, Jo. And so are you for helpling our "little people."

It's Just Mind "Bloggling"

I recently signed a book contract with Echelon Press Publishing. My legal drama, The Advocate, will be released late this summer or early fall.

Since I now have a book contract for The Advocate, I was told I should start blogging. So this is my first attempt at this incredible new communication system. This stuff still boggles, or should I say "bloggles," my mind. But then I'm still amazed every time I fly, that those gigantic metal birds can stay up in the sky. I'm also impressed with robotic vacuum cleaners, cars that park themselves, and microwave ovens. So, you see, it doesn't take much to impress me or "bloggle" my mind.

Once I get through this initial stage of figuring out how this all works, learn the mechanics, and get comfortable with the process, hopefully, I will come up with something intelligent or at least interesting to blog about. Meanwhile, if you want more information about my exciting new novel, The Advocate, (I keep saying the title because I just like seeing it in print.) please check out my website at http://www.teresaburrell.com.