Life in Rural America: And other weird stuff

As some of you may know, I am part of the sandwich  generation. My husband and I are newly childless. (The last entered UNC Chapel Hill  last year.) We moved back home to Nashville after nine years in the Carolinas to start our marketing company and to be closer to John’s father who is  96 years old.

We are suffering all the trials and tribulations of business owners and the necessity of caring for John’s dad, Ben. Ben lives in Bruceton, Tennessee about an hour and a half west of Nashville, between Nashville and Memphis..  He lives on the 100 acre family complete with horses, chickens, etc. I lovingly call it meth-lab country.

We are fortunate that we can control our schedule for the most part and have set up a system of sitters, home healthcare and us.

I am not much of a farm girl but I am learning. I have decided to begin writing down the stories I have been hearing for years and the new ones that pop up every day. Enjoy!

This is what happened when we arrived at the farm Wednesday night.

Bruceton Farm Breaking News! 56 year old Joe Smith (name has been changed) was apprehended by the Bruceton police department trying to out  run them on Rolling Mill Road about 8 pm last night. Earlier that evening he had borrowed money for one gallon of gas at Q-mart. After hearing a loud bang (he hit a utility pole and darkened the entire neighborhood,) he was caught.

Fortunately no one was seriously injured. Earlier this year he walked into the Center Point Baptist Church with a shotgun and invited the parishioners to his Daddy’s funeral. Unfortunately, his Daddy had been dead for over a year.

He had an earlier run-in with the law after being caught with 2 small raccoons on his three-wheeler. It is Illegal to hunt wild game . It is our hope that when he is released he will once again be seen riding a lawnmower up and down Rolling Mill Road. You don’t need a license for a lawnmower in Carroll County.

Healthcare: It Is Getting Personal Now

This is the first post under my new name, Christine’s Memes.  I would like to take credit for the name but my daughter Alex was the creator. (I am so proud).

According to Wikipedia A meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with “cream”^[1]) is a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena.

My definition is a meme is anything I want to talk about. I changed the name so I could differentiate my personal blog posts versus my JTMarCom posts.   There will be duplication but I feel that this is a better format for more personal  thoughts and ideas.

My original thought for this first post was to talk about my learning curve in social media after being a traditional marketer for over twenty years.  My learning curve was no curve at all but a straight up rocket. And it has been a fantastic ride.

But all of a sudden life has gotten in my way.

So if you are squeamish stop now. 🙂

I  had to have a radical hysterectomy on March 8. And I was not happy about it. My hysterectomy included the removal of my uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes.  Fortunately, I am finished with my child rearing. I have two wonderful daughters, Alexandra and Victoria  ( Alex and Tori.). Why the surgery? Well, I did what all smart women should do. Get a regular OBGYN check up and found out that I had an “unidentifiable mass”.

Yes, I was freaked out.  I was scared. But more than that, I was and am pissed! Our COBRA insurance runs out in a month.  An unidentified mass was the doctor’s way of saying it could be cancer, which means I cannot switch to the insurance company I planned to.  My mass was considered a pre-existing condition. The medical and insurance company had limited my choices.  I could not try alternative treatment because if it didn’t work I would not be covered at a later date. I have even been told that mentioning the word cancer in my blog could hurt me in obtaining insurance.

Why am I telling you all this? I need your help. How can we as the social media, marketing, public relations community address this issue? I am embarrassed to say I have been so busy building a business that I have not participated in the healthcare debate in our country.  I will take a guess that neither  have you.

I for one, plan to change that. Getting the GREAT news that I did not have cancer has given me a much needed wake-up call. I will no longer put up with mediocrity either within myself or others. I can bitch and moan or I can do something.  I will be doing research over the next few weeks, to see how I can be more involved. I do not care about political parties, red or blue.  I do care about my and my family’s future. The question is where do I start?

I know that the healthcare bill just passed. I want the details and I intend to get them. I am looking for sources….NOT political rhetoric.  Life is too short to be mired in useless words. Do you think getting the facts is possible?