We all have experiences in our lives that direct us, mold us, and shape us into what we grow to be.  Just like a potter uses his hands to shape his pot, events shape our personalities and what we become.  I’m going to call these ‘life changing experiences’. Do you like it?  Yeah, me too.Anyway, my earliest memory of such an experience was at around age six.  While at Bi-Lo shopping with my mother, we were caught in an ice storm.  I would like to regal you with wild tales of how we were stuck for days without power or how we were forced to eat from the stores meager supplies to survive, but really it was nothing so exciting.What did happen was as we went to leave the slippery parking lot and everyone was slipping and sliding around in their vehicle, my mom asked me to pray we could get off the hill and onto the road.  I did as she requested and it worked!Another molding experience was having surgery.  You see, I have severe idiopathic scoliosis, which really means my spine is crooked and they don’t know why.  But at age eleven I had to have Herrington Rods, or metal rods, placed in my back.  If the surgery wasn’t daunting enough for an eleven year old then the nurse talking to my parents certainly was.  As they explained the intricate details of my impending operation, while I was in attendance I might add, they pointed out that I could die!  At eleven you don’t really think about these things.  Let’s just say blurting it out like that changed me.Other less dramatic things that have shaped my life include but of course are not limited to:  going away to college, getting married, and motherhood.  One of the most interesting of these experiences was giving birth.  Once you’ve went through that process, modesty is all but a dream.  I’ll never forget when I was in labor with my first child and a nurse came in and took special pains to cover my legs with huge sheets.  My eyebrow rose while I questioned what I perceived as a ridiculous action.  Here’s the kicker.  Her answer was, “The doctor is modest.”  Seriously!One of the latest life changing experiences for me has been becoming an author.  Never once did I imagine it was possible for me.  Unlike other authors I can’t say this was something I wanted do or something I’ve always dreamed of doing.Yeah, as a young teenager I received a typewriter for Christmas and I would go in and bang away on the keys.  I’d come up with one page stories but mostly I just typed about my frustrations of being a kid.  Don’t we all do that in some capacity or another?Really the author thing came about for me because of my love of reading, my love of romance, and the idea that as a stay-at-home mom I wanted something uniquely my own.  I guess I’m as surprised as anyone that it worked!What in your life has molded you?  What has changed your life?  Did it make your life better or worse?  Just like in my story “The Perfect Rose”, many things shape Ariel’s life.  Her life changing experiences mold her into what she becomes.  Can’t we all relate?      Felicia Rogers

“The Perfect Rose”  available at Astraea Press.  Also available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and were other ebooks are sold.

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