Just Cheryl and loving it

I was watching a rerun of an episode of the television series Leave it to Beaver a few weeks back and something one character said has stuck with me. Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow) had been trying to be friendly to a new kid in town. This teen wore dressy clothing and an oversized trench coat. He held hsi head slightly down and Wally told his dad that this boy was the one everybody wanted to stick out their foot and trip.

I always sao there are some people the red carpet is laid out for and others who have the rug yanked from underneath them. I also say there are individuals who are always kicked in the ass and others whose asses are always beign kissed. I am like the boy on Leave it to Beaver because people always seemed to want to trip me then laugh when I fell. During my teens I was always being told I was cute, had pretty hair and nice clothes but I was too skinny.

This caused me to walk with my head down and it became a habit that I still have trouble trying to break. In the midst of teenage angst I knew I was born to be a writer. I was not however going to make it in the age of typewriters. I practically flunked typing in the 9th grade and to this day I do not hold fingers in the right position, I tried my best to hand write stories and send them in during the 1980's or use a typewriter but something was missing.

I realize now I was created for the Internet age and I love being able to put my thoughts into story form just by tapping the laptop keys. This means so much to me because I took piano lessons twice as a child and could never get the hang of it. What I could not do on a piano keyboard or a typewriter I now do with ease thanks to the Internet age. If an idea comes to me I can begin writing without ribbon or an ink cartridge and I can simply flow.

After 63 years I am finding my niche as an online writer. Anyone can have a book published or even write an article from time to time on the World Wide Web. For me, I know I was born to do this and I enjoy being who I was created to be. There were times growing up where the other children would leave me out of games or I would be the last person chosen for a team. My own mother in later years would not answer her phone when I called and later say, "I knew it was just Cheryl" This led to a lifetime of being rejected and now that my husband is gone those old feelings began to surface.

For 45 years this one man was by my side through all the ups and downs to encourage me. After he died I began feeling naked and exposed and as if I were being thrown to the wolves. When I share my stories on Facebook people who know me hardly ever read them but strangers have been a blessing. Quite a few have told me they enjoy what I write and this is encouraging. Right now on Vocal I have close to 650,000 views and I am shooting for 750,000 as my next goal. To think that so many individuals have taken time out to read what I have to say is humbling.

I love writing breaking news in the entertainment industry as well as informing the public on any number of subjects. I am no longer last chosen, picked on or put down, or told I am "Just Cheryl." Actually I am going to embrace that title and perhaps write a book using it. I am only now coming to realize what I have is special because not everyone is a natural born writer. I am thankful for my painful past and all my experiences because they give me material to write about.

My desire is that others who have been mistreated and chosen last or disrespected by a parent will be encouraged by my journey. My mother may have meant"Just Cheryl" to mean "It's nobody but Cheryl" and today I turn this phrase around. I embrace being "Just Cheryl' because it means I am free to be me and not attempting to copy anyone else. Only in being myself have I been able to make it to this point. I once was a wife, and mother of young children and that was my identity.

I am now fully accepting all of me and being "Just Cheryl" is just fine. I am a writer and a story teller and proud of it. There is no need for me to envy the talents of others or for anyone to wish they could write like me. Every person has to find out who they really are in spite of what others have said and done to them. I encourage everyone reading whose life has been defined by negativity of others to embrace their true self today.

Being "Just Cheryl" is simply owning who I am and does not have me above or beneath anyone else but loving the skin I am in.I symbolically take a bow and curtsey as I did in the cover photo when heading to that piano recital. I was not created as a pianist or a typist but a writer whose fingers can give gifts to the world and I love it.