Influential People

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Posted on September 4, 2014

“A leader is someone who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” ~ John C. Maxwell

Have you ever known that someone was influential to your life story yet, you have never met them before?

These two people pictured impacted my life, I do know that. Without the lessons they taught others in the medical field, I probably would not be here today.Here is a book which features top early medical research doctors from the past. The woman pictured in the blog today, Helen Taussig, is among them http://www.amazon.com/Doctors-Illustrated-History-Medical-Pioneers/dp/1579127789

Sometimes there are certain facts that are absorbed through the growing-up process that we recognize that without a doubt, has significance to our outcome in life. Such is the case of my life story.

As far as I understand it, The work of these two “pioneering” physicians had an important impact on my life due to their contributions to medical research and development.

I am eternally grateful for their leadership in the medical world. They helped save my life and the lives of many others.

This blog brought to you by the EVVY award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard and her memoir “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.”

Holding On to Memories

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Posted on August 28, 2014

“Memory believes before knowing remembers.” ~ William Faulkner, Light in August

“I just knew you two would always be in my life,” stated Mary Grace as my sister and I walked down Lincoln Avenue in Steamboat after having stuffed ourselves with nachos and drinks at The Cantina last Saturday evening. Mary was in the middle and linked arms with both of us. We strolled toward Wild Horse Gallery.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I just had a feeling,” said Mary.

“Thank God we are both still alive and kicking!” I thought to myself. (For the back story on that thought, follow this link https://allthingsfulfilling.com/2014/06/04/sisters-of-the-heart/ )

I admitted to Mary that I sort of felt the same way. When I moved to Colorado, I was determined to find her. Last time I had heard she was in Fort Collins and I knew her married name. But, we had only been in touch at Christmas time (by snail mail) maybe twice or three times since our college years in 1973 or 1974.

“Mary, you are just the same,” Jan, my twin, stated. “Don’t you just love it when you have friends you can pick up with just like that even if it’s been decades since you’ve seen them?”

That is exactly what happened when we three got together. What a fulfilling weekend I had! Between spending it with my sister and my husband celebrating our three birthdays, reconnecting with Mary – a childhood friend who was included in my memoir and I have written about her on this site, too. Then there was the icing on the cake. I learned that Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected had won two EVVY book awards. It doesn’t get much better than that!

I can’t help but bask in my memories of last weekend for just one more day. Tomorrow, it’s time to get on with things. I have work to do to plan my East Coast book tour which begins mid-September.

For more information on the EVVY award-winning book Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, please visit this link. http://amzn.to/1rArrRG.

Pictures from my fulfilling & rewarding Birthday Weekend

Twins Sue & Jan atop Mt Werner, Steamboat Springs, CO Sunset picnic and hike

Left to right – Terry, Jan & Sue Fish Creek Falls, Steamboat

Sue & Mary – Read the back story using this link –

https://allthingsfulfilling.com/?s=horse+sense

Seems fitting the veterinarian and I are sitting outside Wildhorse Gallery

Outside Wildhorse Gallery – Sue with Mark Twain & “Huck,” Mary & Jan

Sue & Jan – First Birthday together for more than 30 years.

A reunion of 3 childhood friends – Jan, Sue & Mary Grace – a real life character in my memoir

Above- We found Eureka: Mediterranean Street Food, to be indeed golden!

We had great salads & meatballs for our next course, and a great place to catch up.

Bye, Jan. Bye, Mary – come back soon!

Beautiful setting and beautiful birthday weekend in Steamboat

This blog brought to you by the award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard. For information on Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fufilling Things in the Unexpected, an EVVY Book Award book, please visit this link. http://amzn.to/1tKKiXF

Double Trouble & Sidekick

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Posted on August 19, 2014

Double your pleasure…double your fun…

“A gift with a kind countenance is a double present.” ~ Thomas Fuller

I am so excited, I am about to burst! Tomorrow my twin sister arrives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado from the East Coast. She is coming here for the first time and we will be celebrating our birthday! It has been decades (if I am calculating correctly – about 32 or 33 years) since my twin and I have been together to recognize this day of personal importance.

To top off the cake, another sister of the heart, our childhood friend Mary Grace, whom I featured in a chapter of my memoir is arriving also. Jan and Mary have not seen each other since the mid-nineteen seventies! To read more about this special friend, visit this link. https://allthingsfulfilling.com/2014/06/04/sisters-of-the-heart/.

Mary will be here with us for only one night of celebration because she must rush back to her work. She is a veterinarian who is caring for a nearly extinct species – black-footed ferrets. It is the breeding season and she has nearly 200 newborn ferrets under her watchful eye for the U.S. Forest and Wildlife Service. For more information on Mary’s work as a veterinarian, please visit this link.http://bit.ly/1qanHiZ and http://bit.ly/1l7vXEx.

I wrote about Mary’s love of animals and her fulfilling work previously in the blog called Horse Sense. If you missed it, here is the link https://allthingsfulfilling.com/2014/06/03/horse-sense/.

The next few days will be a gift of a lifetime, filled with all kinds of fulfilling things for my twin and me and our sidekick! Bring on the fun, hon……

For more information on Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, available in audio, paperback and e-book, please visit this link.http://amzn.to/1tbsLc3

Those Were The Days

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Posted on August 14, 2014

You know you are a baby boomer, born in the 1950s and 1960s if you remember when:

The milk man cometh

the World Book Encyclopedia salesman showed up at your family’s front door

going to the drive-in movies with your parents was exciting (I remember seeing Goldfinger at Timonium Drive-In….shhh…don’t tell my parents. I was supposed to be asleep in the back seat!)

mail arrived accurately without a zip code

phone numbers were only two letters and five digits

pretzels and potato chips were delivered by truck in large tin cans

the Girl Scout “flying up ceremony” was prestigious

you had to walk to the TV to change the channel

seat belts were not even in the vocabulary

Miss Nancy ruled Romper Room

Thumbelina was the most wanted gift on your Xmas List

fun meant “hanging with the crowd,” at S.S. Kresgres or Reads Drugstore drinking ice cold soda, jiving to the juke box, and swirling around on swivel stools.

Those were the days, weren’t they?

As Robert Frost once said “In three words I can sum up what I have learned about life. It goes on.”

This blog is brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. For information on the publication Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, which has been selected as a FINALIST in the Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY BOOK AWARDS, please visit this link: http://amzn.to/1kzGw2t

Hot Flashes

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Posted on August 12, 2014

Today, instead of the Flashback blog that I had promised, we will post an independent publishing NEWS FLASH ! Short, sweet and to the point!

Flashes, are good – it means something is hot, scintillating, light filled or illuminating! Here is the announcement ~

Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected has been nominated as a FINALIST in the

Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Book Awards – anthology category!

Tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling there will be another sweet treat for our readers –flashbacks to songs for baby boomers! You are invited to celebrate with me.

This blog is brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. For more information and ordering Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, please visit this link. http://amzn.to/VcIcTO. Now available in audio book (the voice holds the real treat), paperback and e-book.

Domestic Duties

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Posted on August 11, 2014

“The best time to plan a book is while doing the dishes.” ~ Agatha Christy

On All Things Fulfilling sometimes we jump from subject to subject. This is “Flashbacks Week.” So today is the first in a series of words and images that will stir your memories of an era gone by.

For many Americans, the 1950’s evokes images of domestic duties that have now gone by the wayside. Before the 1970s, “household domestics, ” were often hired to assist families with household tasks. This was more prevalent in homes south of the Mason-Dixon line. Baby boomers who remember “those days” will relate to my memoir and will have interest in this article. http://www.safemotherhood.org/domestic-work.html

When was the last time you saw a women spending part of her day doing the following:

Polishing sterling silver
Manually sprinkling clothes and rolling them before ironing
Making school lunches and wrapping the food in waxed paper
Setting out crystal salt and pepper dishes at in front of each place when setting the table
Teaching the next generation how to properly set a table, with several size spoons & forks, special butter knifes, crystal goblets and bone china.
Hosting a weekly “bridge party” with tea sandwiches, homemade baked goods, and a little afternoon glass of sherry.
Starching the tablecloths and sheets and ironing them.
Darning toes and heels of socks
Icing a cake wearing an apron and pearls

Memoirs are made out pictures of our past. Some people use recollections to create written legacies, like myself.

Do return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow. This blog brought to you by the author of “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected” by Sue Batton Leonard. For information and ordering, follow this link.http://amzn.to/1mCmyQd

Focus on Simple Pleasures

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Posted on July 24, 2014

There are few things in common between where I grew up, in Towson, Maryland and where I am residing at this moment, Steamboat Springs, Colorado except great peaches and sweet corn.

It is an unexpected gift when you live high up in the magnificent Rocky Mountains to find corn and peaches as good as what’s grown in Maryland. The produce comes in from Palisades, Colorado every weekend on a truck.

We are getting into the fresh from the farm season! So, although, I am living many, many miles away from all of our family – today I would like post a reminder to myself.

And as gift for my readers on this sunny summer day – here is something you can make that is useful, healthy and delicious.It comes from http://www.OasisAdvancedWellness.com. Visit their website, there’s other fulfilling things they’ve posted for the visitors of their space on the internet.

See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling! This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. NOW AVAILABLE IN AUDIO BOOK, TOO! http://amzn.to/1rDx80a.

A Questionable Start

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Posted on July 11, 2014

“Something really got messed up!” I often thought as a child. How can I be three minutes older than my twin sister? ” I mean, look at the size difference! Surprising, isn’t it? In my memoir I share some insight into more of my thoughts from the perspective of an child who had a start filled with uncertainty.

Photo above – left to right: Yours truly (Sue), Mary Grace (our childhood friend who is one year younger) and Jan, my twin.

At other times I thought:

As an adult I’ve come to know deep in my heart, it was no accident – we are all according to God’s plan. Believe it or not, He has one for each and every one of us!

There is a lot of truth in that statement, isn’t there?

Thanks once again to www.unbridledimages.com for surprising me with this photo that was dug up out of their archives- it is a treasure. Who would have thought I’d be corresponding with long lost friends, exchanging picture and reminiscing with people of my past so frequently? Unexpected things happen when we tell our life story. It’s been truly delightful.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

e-Commerce! Fulfilling Dreams!

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Posted on July 10, 2014

“You’ll fall even deeper in love with Fanny when you hear her voice,” narrated by the author Sue Batton Leonard

Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected is now available in Audio Book format.

Brought to you through Audible.com – Amazon’s audio book division!

“Sue’s ability, through dialogue, to share Fanny’s voice and powerful role in Sue’s developing years is a gift to readers.“

~ Mary Kurtz, author

Click here for easy ordering

Listen to this memoir on your Kindle Fire, through the free audible app. on Apple, Android and Windows devices.

“Audible ~ Fulfilling Dreams through e-Commerce” ~ Sue Batton Leonard

Click here for easy ordering

Tomorrow I will have a photo for you of my sister and me as young children. You may not believe we are twins when you see it!

This blog brought to you by http://www.AllThingsFulfilling.com and author, Sue Batton Leonard

FAQ: Identical or Fraternal

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Posted on July 9, 2014

Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief’ ~ Marco Tullius Cicero

Since my memoir was published in late March, I’ve had wonderful opportunities to do some author appearances, book readings and signings. My memoir will be read by two book clubs this summer and fall, and I am excited about that!

When the audience learns of my fragile beginnings, there is curiosity about the size difference between my sister and me. One of the most frequently asked questions from the audience has been whether as adults my twin sister and I look alike.

Today, I thought I would post this photo taken approximately five years ago. I am with some of my college friends. We were having a last college reunion with our dear friend Amy. She lived life so vibrantly with breast cancer until her final days of struggling came to pass. This get together was a gift of a lifetime for all of us. I’ll let you determine whether my sister and I look like twins or not. What do you think, readers?

The one missing from the picture, our very own “Chatterbox” or “Chatter,” as we sometimes call her, had graciously hosted the reunion and it was a blast.

Do return tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling. I have a THRILLING announcement and on Thursday I will post another surprise photo. I didn’t know it existed – of my twin sister and me and our friend Mary Grace, who is one childhood friend featured in my memoir. You’ll see my twin and me as young children.

This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

All Things Fulfilling

Writing Focused on Fine Art & The Humanities

Category Archives: Women

Holding On to Memories

Hot Flashes

Domestic Duties