Judy Campbell:  

STORY 1: CEDAR KEY FLORIDA: Attended Cedar Key Baptist Church Cedar Key is today a really awesome resort area. When I was there only a very small area of expensive houses and cottages existed on the far side of the island. I really loved living on the island, although, It was a little frightening when the hurricanes and heavy rains would hit, because we then would get stuck on the island, not being able to leave until the water receded. My Dad would go hunting, bringing all kind of game and foul to our freezer and on our table. He also fished and gathered oysters. I would sometimes go with him and then sit at the fire and eat roasted oysters. It was our bonding time. My Aunt Betty and Uncle Nolan were my Mom and Dad's best friends and we spent a lot of time with them. Aunt Betty made this amazing homemade fudge that I will sell from house to house. In fact, my first princess crowning required that we girls raise a certain amount of money. So Aunt Betty made her fudge for me to sell during the competition. I won my first art contest in this small town. When the tide would go out, it would be so far that you could spend hours walking out the sandbar. My friends and I would ride our bikes or street skate all over the island exploring. We especially liked old abandon houses or structures. We would find arrowheads and other fun artifacts in mounds on the island. We had a HUGE pier at the end of the island that we spent time running around on along with tons of pelicans and other water foul. Our local commercial fisherman would hang at those docks. In fact, we always had fresh seafood, and a local restaurant or two. STORY 2: EVERGLADES FLORIDA: I loved hiking out into the swamps and woods by myself, really, I did, all the time! I played around the canals, looking for the manatee, watching for gators, climbing trees and throwing scraps to the cat fish. I had two cats who loved to hang around the dock and eat the scraps from cleaned fish. I took piano and Alto Clarinet lessons. I attended Everglades Baptish Church...sang in the church choir and participated in drama pieces they had. I practiced on the piano there on weekday afternoons. My father was principal of the school, which was weird...but we lived in the koolest house on a raised foundation just a couple of blocks from the school. I would go out with my father and deliver clothes and other donated items to the Seminole Indian villages. I was also the mascot for the cheerleading team, and could be seen almost every basketball game, I was even given an official uniform, the size for a 3rd and 4th grader! My Dad made the gym a summer hang out for everyone, then redid the floors every fall for the new basketball season. We had some AMAZING talent shows at the school. I was only in second grade, when I did a dance number with the high school girls in my very own go-go boots! My family went on a trip to the Bahamas with the graduating senior class. When we had long hurricanes, we boarded up the house and drove north to stay with family friends, it was like camping inside! Then afterwards, the streets would be flooded and we would run around playing in the water. I thought it was fun! I loved the houses up on stilts and the Florida style of art. We would go to Miami from time to time to shop and look around, and once or twice we drove down to Key West. That long drive over the water is a little scary! This was the city where I received my very first kiss from a boy. :) STORY 3: FT MYERS FLORIDA Attended: First Baptist Church Of Fort Myers (An Historic Baptist Church) 1735 Jackson St Fort Myers, FL 33901 We didn't live far from the beach in Ft Myers. Like most of the large Gulf Coast cities, it had a lot of beauty to offer and many activities. What I remember most about living here was having a million friends who had a million parties, with a pool involved! The Beatles were huge, and played at every party. I was involved in many extra curricular activities, always busy. We were very close to my grandmother and grandfather's home, so we visited a lot of those weekends. Mom worked at the phone company, so I had to babysit my two brothers.We had hamsters and Gerbils. I had tons of barbie dolls and did a lot of play acting with them. My friends and I did a lot of roller skating at the local rink and I tried to play on the girls basketball team but I was so short it made it hard to keep up. I got my first ID bracelet from a boy in this city! STORY 4: Tallahassee, Florida attended: Seminole Baptist Church Dad was working on his Doctorate at FSU. Tallahassee is actually my birth city. When my father began working on his doctorate, we moved back and lived close to campus of Florida State University. I can remember sneaking into a IKE and TINA TURNER CONCERT which was taking place on the football field, and watching from under the bleechers! What a blast! But I ripped my pants on the fence as I was going back over, so my Mom quizzed me. Well, after I told her the story, she actually laughed with me! Living near the FSU campus was definitely an adventure. My cousin, Jan was living in town to go to school, and she let me hang with her while she did her sewing. She was an excellent seamstress and cook and she would let me watch and learn. She taught me a lot of the basics. She eventually became an Art Teacher and married a Landscaper. I loved going over and playing around on the FSU field equipment and walking around campus. In and out of the head shops, the art studios and such. My first serious relationship with a guy was here in this city. A son of one of the professors. The relationship lasted almost three years, but it ended when he decided he was ready for sex and I decided I wasn't. Besides, after my Dad finished his Doctorate, we moved STORY 5: NORTHWESTERN HIGH AND ROCK HILL DAYS: I was in the college prep program, so I had classes with the smarties...some way smarter than me...I was in band and chorus.... I hung out with the football players at band parties...went steady with Danny Wray (a rock n roll drummer)..my nickname was D.J. Campbell....I was a clown...a designated driver known on occasion to get too bad off herself....but I was too busy to get into very much trouble...I was known to skip school from time to time....but I held down two jobs almost always....because I loved clothes and jewelry and hanging with my friends, and my parents would only pay for necessities. My favorite hang out was what use to be "Runts" down by the river...playing pool almost every Friday and/or Saturday night and dancing to the Rock N Roll that played on the jukebox, that is when I wasn't out of town with a band....my parents made me go to church every Sunday no matter what until the day I moved away. I have two brothers, Jimmy and Randy. My best friend from high school, and still in my life.....Brenda Jones who went to Rock Hill High....we use to go to drag races on Sunday and race a Canary Yellow 57 Chevy that Danny and the boys maintained.....we use to run up and down high street with our cars....and cruise HARDEES...anybody remember the Cobra mustang we used to get smoked by? My first job was at the Exxon carwash...a really fun job! STORY 6: JUST ME: I always wanted to be a Rock N Roll Star when I grew up. My family and friends thought that was a HORRIBLE idea. As it turns out, they were only half right. My favorite way to relax is to totally get away from people, turn off the phone, dip into the hot tub, watch a movie I've been wanting to see....or go out of town to a secluded, wooded area and rent a cabin, hike and hang out with nature. If I'm going to work somewhere, I need to have respect, freedom to work, and enough money to be able to deal with the day-to-day. My inspiration comes from people with the courage to make their dreams and goals come true.....whatever they may be. My biggst surprise in life has been the validity of the saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same." My relationship with my son has only reinforced my belief that LOVE is the most important component to a successful and happy life. STORY 7: CHRISTMAS 2009 PART I The day I left Columbus, it was sooooooo cold and of course, I had to be at the airport early. I decided to take two carry on pieces since there had been so many problems of luggage being lost by the airline companies. It did however, turn out to be a real pain because I had to carry them everywhere. But it was best for a short trip, its just that I really didn't have everything I wanted with me on the days that I was there. (I went to the drug store when I got there and picked up the toiletries I needed because certain items bring so many problems with airport security). Airport security is horrible, I dread it every time, and in fact this is only the second time I have flown since 911. I was a little nervous. . My flight from Columbus had me sitting beside a young, well built, strawberry blond cowboy from Kansas City. He grabbed my bags and threw them up into the storage bin, like it was nothing. Then signaled for me to have a seat. I saw him in the terminal, standing all confident and strong. He is the kind of man that makes a girl want to drop to her knees, then when she does, he blushes. The kind of man that makes your mind go crazy with really nasty thoughts.(I know my girls KNOW what I'm talking about). His name was WESTON and he was a boat mechanic, working on yachts and boats owned by our Ohio finest. He had a few freckles and I'm guessing about 25, and dressed very well. YEOW. EH EM, so, my first stop was in Milwaukee and I almost missed getting on the plane because they boarded early, so I didn't get to stop for food. They rushed me on, made us put on our seat belts and then left us to sit on the runway for an hour and a half. It had snowed really bad and they decided the runways needed scraping and the planes deiced, so there we sat. It would hav...Expand for more