Paula Nelson:
CLASS OF 1972
Brandon High SchoolClass of 1972
Brandon, FL
Paula's Story
Some people will remember me as Class Treasurer in our junior and senior years. After leaving Brandon and moving to Tampa, I married high school sweetheart Eddie Booth, had one son, and ultimately divorced after less than three years.
Professionally, I held positions as Executive Secretary/Assistant to a wealthy CEO and then senior executive at another corporation.. I then became a branch manager at a savings and loan that had branches throughout Florida. In 1993, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and "retired" on SS disability (which I would trade for being able to work outside the home in a heartbeat!).
Ultimately I married the father of the young lady whom my 17 year old son, Eric, was dating in his senior year of high school (1995). My husband- to-be owned acreage in Melbourne, Arkansas, which is in the Ozark Mountains, and we moved here the day after we were married in Tampa in 1995. My son married my husband's daughter the following year, and they moved up here "so that it would be okay that he married his step-sister" - just a joke at the time, but a reality in some areas of Arkansas. Now, my granddaughter can legally call her parents "Aunt Mommy" and "Uncle Daddy", but they don't think it is nearly! as funny as my husband and I do!
We now live on a ranch/farm that we named Green Eyes Ranch, where we raise our own beef and pork - so we are able to avoid the hormones and chemicals in commercially produced meat. Melbourne is just a few miles from Oxford, Arkansas, where Jethro Bodine of the Beverly Hillbillies ostensibly attended school, and yes, there are "real" hillbillies around here. Green Eyes Ranch is 45 acres of hills, woods, and pasture; very idyllic and peaceful.
This area of Arkansas is beautiful, mountainous, and utterly devoid of bumper to bumper traffic, subdivisions, and strip malls. We are 35 miles from the closest Walmart! A "big town" of 50,000 is about an hour away. The closest town, Melbourne, has a population of 1,472, and is about 4 miles away. It was a real culture shock when we first moved here 16 years ago, after living in the Tampa/Brandon are...Expand for more
a since I was 2, but after about a year or so, we were able to adjust to the slower paced life here.
I am still down to earth, love horses, fishing, am a decent marksman, and am an outgoing person who cherishes good friends who are "real people". I love my privacy, the secluded area in which we live, and don't misss the hustle and bustle of areas similar to what Brandon and Tampa have become. It's a shame it isn't the little community it was when we were in high school!
My Mother, who is now a very spry and bright 87 year old, has always inspired me to perservere. There have been instances in my life that were not great, by any means, but I am a survivor, and will not let events which I cannot control get me down. I just get up, dust myself off, and face each day as a challenge. I would have to say that my Mom is my closest confidant, even though she still lives in Brandon.
A great sense of humor is key to enjoying life, and enables one to "make lemonade" out of the lemons life throws at us. My husband did stand-up comedy in Tampa after retiring from law enforcement, and he makes me laugh - almost every day!
If I were to do anything over, I would have not married until I was about 30, and have dated many candidates. Marrying a high school sweetheart works for some, but it didn't work for me. The best thing that came from my first marriage was my son.
I hope old friends remember me as the same fun loving, considerate, strong willed person that I always have been.
Not worrying about events over which one has no control is very important in a happy life. If a person can do something tangible to affect events which are taking place, that is one thing, but to dwell on a situation for the sake of dwelling on it leads to one being less healthy mentally. It is also a HUGE waste of time and energy!
We have many pets here in Arkansas, but my absolute favorite one is my horse, Joe. Joe is big like a Clydesdale - he is half Morgan, and half quarter horse. My husband traded a Suzuki jeep for Joe in 1996, when Joe was sixteen years old. He is now 32, and still a gentle giant.
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