Willa

I'd like to meet:

YOU! Where've you been?

How I would love to have met my grandparents, and their parents, and theirs...

Would love to have known my uncle Paul Emerson Shaffer, pictured, who died at 19, many years before I came along.

And wouldn't it just be wonderful to meet larger-than-life folks we've admired or have been inspired and influenced by, such as Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King, Jr., John and Robert F. Kennedy, Mark Twain, Thoreau, Tolstoy ... and have a chance to meet all the intelligent, wise, lovely, courageous, good people past and present, famous or your next-door neighbor's aunt Betty!

I would like to meet, talk with, and gaze into the eyes of every child. I would like to meet every brilliant songwriter and musician whose mind bends mine.

I hope to meet as many folks as I can from whom I can learn more about the human condition and in so knowing, I might be a better person.

Those I long most to meet again in another realm: my amazing Mom, who died when I was just 18, but she left me with a lifetime's worth of inspiration and awe; my brother, who gave us the length of years we could reasonably expect, but it was not enough, it could never be enough. I hope to be reunited, too, with my grandson's mama, Kim, who was taken before her time, at the tender age of 25.

And, please God, if there is a reunion for me in heaven, let it include the one who claimed me as his life partner, even though I did not make it easy for him, who drew out the best woman in me, gently dismantled my "brick wall," gave me unconditional love, and changed me forever: Steve. God bless him.

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“Praise loudly, blame softly."
~ Catherine the Great
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“In the depths of winter, I finally
learned that deep within me there lay
an invincible summer."
~ Albert Camus
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KRISTA DETOR with David Weber: Gaslight (Mudshow)

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KRISTA DETOR with David Weber: Dancing In A Minefield (Mudshow)

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Music:

Check out great music at Acoustic Pie!!

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
~Arnold “Red” Auerbach

Music is the vernacular of the human soul.
~Geoffrey Latham

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.
~George Eliot

I cannot imagine a life without music. I love listening ALL the time, and have since my earliest memory. These days, I could never get too much Kathy Mattea or Krista Detor , and I'm still discovering artists I had somehow missed before, such as the wonderful Carrie Newcomer and Patty Griffin .

One of the best things about MySpace is the discovery of independent acoustic vocalists, musicians, songwriters, and the people who love them! My spirit is continually nourished through this music, connecting with others who share this passion, and experiencing concerts, especially those in small venues catering to people who are truly there for the music. So much talent, so many good people!

Movies:

To Kill A Mockingbird, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Fried Green Tomatoes, GWTW, Dead Poets Society, Birdcage, Good Will Hunting, Postcards from the Edge (great book, too, by Carrie Fisher), SILKWOOD, anything with the incredible Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Kurt Russell, Cher, Goldie Hawn, Robin Williams, great actors of all time.

Television:

WVU Mountaineer football!

Books:

I may have emerged from the womb with a book in my hands (and a prehistoric stereo headset on)! Have always been a voracious reader and lover of books. Have read tons of fiction, covered all of Willa Cather's works as a child, wanted to BE her! Currently engaged with biographies: have read several on JFK and Robert Kennedy (can't wait to see the movie Bobby!), recently read a fabulous book on Neil Armstrong. Enjoy tomes on spirituality, philosophy, the human condition, and good fiction.

Heroes:

My lifetime hero is my beloved big brother Paul. In childhood, his love was unconditional, he made me feel that I mattered in the world, he would never let me down. In adulthood, even in discovering that he was human and thus not entirely perfect ;~), he was always the point of reference against which other men were measured, the guiding light, the opinion that most mattered, the one I considered the smartest human alive, the one who always listened thoughtfully and communicated gently, the one I could count on, the one for whom I never lost respect, the big brother whose life had blossomed and flourished as husband to a beautiful lady inside and out, who adored him, and children who grew up knowing, just as I had, that he was the one they could always turn to, whose love and respect would always be theirs to cherish.
My everyday heroes are folks who live each day with passion, integrity, and an open heart. I'm encountering such people more and more often these days, thus realizing they've been around all along. What a beautiful and inspiring thing for which to be thankful!

PAUL AND ME
MY MOM EVA IN JUNE '65
MY SWEET SISTER SUZE
MY BRUVER TOM & MY TONY
MY MISCHIEF-MAKER AMANDA ON HER 4TH BIRTHDAY
MY AMANDA AT 5
MY DANIELLE AT 2
MY DANIELLE AT 7
MY GRANDSON T.J. AND A FRIEND

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLFRIENDS