(IN) COURAGE

The premise is to ‘interview’ people I admire with 7 questions.

1) What do you do for a career? (also include if you are a parent/grandparent)

I am a parent to 2 sons (36 & 46) and our late daughter who died at age 29. Grandmother to a 5, 10, 18 & 21 yr. old who I’ve raised since age 7 (both his parents have passed away.) In college I worked in the Marsha Jordan Dept at Jordan Marsh & started teaching when I was almost 22. I was 1 of 7 teachers that piloted the All-Day Kindergarten. I taught for 36 1/2 years and have now been Retired for 15 years.

2) Who has inspired you? Why?

My inspiration came from my parents, who were both very hard workers. My Mom only had a grade school education & I was always amazed at what she could Do. She was my inspiration to go to college & earn my degree. Other strong women inspired me to teach & juggle family life as well!

3) What are some examples of things you’ve done that are courageous?

Courage came in many forms for me: being able to stick up for & fight for children’s needs in my classroom, speak up when I needed to & be silent as well. My biggest act of courage was to fight for the right to raise my grandson and give him the life he deserved, a long costly, emotional Court battle!

4) Do you have a ‘bucket list’? Would you mind sharing at least one thing on that list?

Bucket List hmmmm not really. There are however things I wish I had done earlier in my life: travel more (not a fan of flying), learn a couple of languages, play an instrument …other than that I’m pretty content with where I am in my life now…no regrets.

5) What inspiring advice would you give for others?

Advice: set your Goals, never give up, expect failures & setbacks but know that it isn’t the end of the world. /nap when needed, cry, yell, scream if need be! Be good to yourself & others! Give of yourself to others but not all of you!

6) Is there something about you/your work or hobby you’d like to be shared?

Hobbies had quite a few enjoyable ones during my life. Singing, candle making, cake decorating, wedding photographer, photo card making!

7) HOT SEAT! What is your question for me?

I marvel at your stamina to travel to Boston come home & teach classes, you had the courage to train overseas, recently took a trip by yourself. Have YOU always had the courage to do things alone, as an independent child / woman? And lastly, where & how did you meet & end up marrying Jeff?

The story of how I know Marsha is an interesting one, but I marvel at her attitude towards life. I keep telling her she needs to write a book, maybe this will help inspire her. And once again, hoping this inspires YOU!

Now for my ‘Hot Seat’ response to the question “Have YOU always had the courage to do things alone, as an independent child / woman? And lastly, where & how did you meet & end up marrying Jeff?

Hey! Those are two questions! But I will answer them.

Part 1
It’s funny how some people see me as confident, but it’s something that I’m trying to work on every day. Though it feels that I was raised to be independent, I wasn’t confident at all when I was younger. There are some more things, I share from time to time with people I am close with, but in short, “young Jess” didn’t have it easy. Maybe someday I’ll get the courage to write more about it.

But, wanting to be an architect saved my life, and going away to college really helped me get out of my shell.  After that, it was getting into Martial Arts helped me to make bigger jumps of confidence from stepping in the ring, to traveling to Thailand, earning a Black Belt, teaching and more.

Part 2
The story of meeting and marring Jeff can get lengthy, lol, it did take 10 years!  But in short, my boss told me about a local kickboxing class in the North End of Boston, which was Jeff’s school. I decided to step outside of my comfort zone, try it, and ended up started training in Muay Thai.  There was a small tribe at Jeffs school, many of which I stay connected with.  After Jeff closed that school he went to Thailand, and I thought I’d never see him again, but I was wrong.  After he came back, we still hung out with each other. 

Neither of us wanted to be married, but we went through some really tough stuff together for those 10 years. Between Jeff closing his school, to me getting incredibly sick and more, we wanted one good day. So, we decided that the one good day would be June 8, 2014, and decided to elope at the Boston Commons, near the swan boats. It was just us, the photographer, and my sister Krysta.