Welcome Gwen Plano #wouldyourather

June 26, 2020 by Jill Weatherholt 132 Comments

Today I’m excited to welcome author and blogger, Gwen Plano. I met Gwen several years ago through our friend John Howell. She truly is as sweet and genuine as she looks. Many of you know Gwen, but for those who don’t, please check out her website and blog. I also hope you’ll grab a copy of her candid memoir “Letting Go Into Perfect Love, Discovering the Extraordinary After Abuse”. It’s a beautiful and inspiring story of survival, strength, faith and hope. Thanks so much for playing along, Gwen!

Would you rather live in an amusement park or a zoo?

I have a great love for the San Diego Zoo. As far back as I can remember, at least once a year, my parents would herd their tribe of seven into an old Pontiac station wagon and head to the zoo. We would spend the day there, walking the hills through the lions and giraffes, the gorillas and monkeys. I especially loved the penguins and Koala bears. I can easily imagine living there, sharing the night sky with meerkats and prairie dogs. As for making an amusement park my home, the very thought terrifies me. All the noise and lights, well, just not me.

 

Would you rather be stranded in the jungle or in the desert?

I grew up on a desert in Southern California. It was common to find tarantulas, scorpions, and rattlesnakes in our yard. My fair skin was usually shades of red, because we did not have sunblock back then. When I first saw Tarzan swinging from the forest trees, I was captivated. Could I do the same? Would I find a friendly monkey or maybe an ape? In my imagination, I joined Tarzan and swung high into the trees, ate berries from bushes and forged for roots buried deep. I know the desert, the hazards it brings. I love its silence and its eerie beauty, but if I were stranded, I’d search for my Tarzan in the jungle trees.

 

Would you rather be able to breathe underwater or fly?

Oh my, this is an easy one. Growing up on a farm, fifteen miles from the nearest town, I created alternate worlds and traveled to places I’d never seen. I used to look up to the clouds and I would imagine flying through their mist to mysterious lands with castles and kings and queens. Even today, when on a plane, I take a window seat. I watch the clouds pass me by and dream. Sometimes when I’m really happy and my heart soars, I close my eyes and let my spirit fly free.

 

Would you rather be recognized wherever you go… or live a quiet (monetarily successful) life of anonymity?

I am a quiet person and love anonymity. For many, perhaps most, this time of confinement and other restrictions has been very difficult. Since I am a bit of a hermit, I have been spared this burden. My confinement has helped me complete my first draft of The Culmination, and after a week, I will start to reread and prepare it for editing. I just might need to acknowledge COVID-19 for all the assistance it gave me.

 

If you were reborn in a new life, would you rather be alive in the past or future?

With either choice I wonder if I would remember my prior life. If I could remember, then I’d like to grow up in Dallas, TX and somehow stop the assassination of JFK. If I could not remember, then I would rather be alive in the future. The unknown always beckons me. A different time, a different location, how exciting!

 

Thank you, Jill, for inviting me to visit your beautiful site today. I am deeply honored. You asked that I share a bit about myself, and so I shall.

I have been retired since 2012 from higher education. I taught psychology for a few years and then was asked to assume a post in administration. For most of my 30 years, I oversaw Student Services, the branch of higher ed that includes residence life, health center, student discipline – all those areas that reside outside the classroom. I was effectively the “mom” to thousands of young adults and a supervisor to many. Earlier this week, I received a letter from a former colleague with an acknowledgement that means more than any award might bring. She wrote, “I think back on the care and compassion you brought in your leadership role every day and because of it, what a better place you made for me coming to work.”

Between travels with my husband and visits with family and friends, I write. I’ve just finished my fourth book and will send it to the editor very soon. Though this avocation is an accomplishment of no small measure for me, my greatest treasure and most profound source of joy has been and is my four adult children. It is they who have guided me through life’s mysteries and kept me close to my heart, close to the compassion my colleague mentions above.