The short story is I’m uniquely me and the same as thousands of other women who grew up in the 1960s in a white, middle-class home. Privileged but not burdened by material riches.

Having parents who lived through hard times forges children with strength of purpose. It was our job to get an education and to work hard to improve upon our parents success. Right.

Youngest of three, I was born into the role of baby child. The one who had older siblings to look up to as an example and since they were both perfect in my eyes — well, there have been books written about how well that works out.

Our mother was a wise woman who recognized that we were three unique people. She tried to encourage our strengths and temper our failings. I was the creative one. The child who got bead sets to weave and paint by number kits.

It turns out Mom was spot on because my work took me down a creative path into publications and forms design. My Dad passed along his steadfast enthusiasm for finding ways to improve productivity. His efforts resulted in pay raises that elevated our family’s standard of living. For me it brought promotions and pushed me into management positions.

Time flies and now I’m in my autumn years — so far, at least, there is no sight of true winter. It is a time in life suitable for reflection while my mind is still peculating enough to be active.

Never too late to learn, I recently tackled WordPress, the go to software for anyone wanting to create a blog or website of their own. After a tumultuous start, I successfully redesigned a site for our travel club. It made me so happy to be designing pages and writing again that my husband decided to take advantage of my newfound enthusiasm. So now I’m in the process of finalizing another site as a portal to his investment clubs.

And here I am. Starting AMusing Marilyn as a repository of writings, thoughts and maybe even the book never written about our 400 day journey round the world.

Why AMusing Marilyn? First of all, because it amuses me to do so. I love double meanings almost as much as oxymorons. Second. because formatting my poetry for Smashwords won’t be as easy as it was to submit two short stories, Maybelle and Mattie: Each with a story of her own to tell. And third, because I enjoy writing and pondering and there is the time to do such things these days.

No children to “pass my pearls of wisdom to,” as Edna St. Vincent Millay once wrote, I’ll send them to the ethos of the internet and see where the gems fall.