Sherril O'Connell:  

I always wanted to be a cowboy when I grew up... LOL.... My family and friends thought that was a silly idea. As it turns out, they were wrong. I still wanna be a "Cowboy" when I grow up... if I grow up.! walking on the beach with rock n roll blaring in my ears... and my metal detector for finding treasures.. My Hero, is my father, whom sadly, I lost on Jan. 29th of this year..I lived in Punta Gorda for a time, then moved to Cabbage Key where I worked in 1983.. Cabbage Key what a blast.. Only accesible by boat, to this day..Also published a poem while I worked there.... met many celebrities, waited on Admiral Nimitz, what an honor, and a very funny man... table of 12, and they all switched seats to confuse me.. what fun.... waited on Walter Cronkite, Jimmy Buffett, Jimmy Dean (The sausage King) a lot of others as well, and met Bob Seger, who invited me and a few others to sail down to the keys, in 1983. I then went off to South Seas Plantation where I worked as hostess, and waitress in Chadwicks, and The Kings Crown, switched to working for the Set up Crew, for sales and marketing.. worked there until 1986 A funny thing happened to me while i worked there.. I breifly dated a captain of a private Luxury yacht.. Had a day off, he came to south seas with the 48ft Hatteras.. invited me over for drinks, and I was sitting on the deck in a bikini... Sitting there with a drink in my hand on the back deck, a little old gentleman came over to me and asked for my autograph.. I had no clue who he thought i was, so, i signed my name.. Well, lemme tell ya.. he turned beet red, and apologized to me, and said to me, and I quote.. "I am SO sorry... I thought you were Barbi Benton"...I had absolutely no clue who she was, but it didnt take me long to find out that she was a playmate of the year for playboy, and a one time hugh Hefner Girlfriend.. So much for my 15 mins of fame.. LOL..... I Left the area and moved to Ft. Myers beach for a time, and worked as a first mate on a commercial fising boat.. by far, the most rewarding, and hardest job I ever had.., then Daytona Beach. Guess you could say I lived the life of a gypsy for a time... then found paradise in Panama City Beach, Florida in October of 1988, went to work for a Helicpter ride business, and got a contract by pure chance, for offhsore magazine who wanted to have pictures of the race.....One of my pictures, ended up on the cover in May, I believe, of 1993... So they sent me a nice fat check, and I guess, now I can say I am a professional photographer as well, since I got the credit and the money... Lived briefly in St. Louis and lost my fiancee to cancer in 1991, so moved back to the beach.. Married in 1994, and had my youngest, and last daughter, Megan, on April 17th, 1995.. divorced in 2003.. Met my last husband, and was married on July 16th, 2005...still living on the beach..and finally found a good man to appreciate me.... The one person from my past who I'd most like to see again is Tom Fabbricatore, because he was my best buddy during high school, I haven't seen him since 1986, And my father, who was everything to me... Speaking of sports....I am a very big NASCAR fan.... Dale Earnhard Jr. (88)....I am a Die hard Redskin fan, as well, and I used to babysit John Hall , (#10) when he was 3 years old..... but now he has retired, he was a kicker from the Redskins, and before that, while he played for the NY jets, he kicked the longest field goal, (57 yds) in the Longest Monday night football game in history....and won the game, to put the redskins in the play offs.. and of course for college, I still love my UF Gators... Hmm... what have I learned from my kids?.. Has to be that I still have a lot to learn.. If I won $100 million, I'd give some of it to my foundation, (Souls not for sale) then spend the rest on my children, my brothers and sisters my friends in need, and no kill shelters for animals.. I also ...Expand for more