Deb Goldsmith

Hi! Let's see . . . about me . . . I am a Southern woman born and bred, educated as much by life as in the classroom. I am strong, yet gentle with a big heart. I am very open-minded and accepting of others - that's what it is all about, isn't it? Really? I strive to be constantly learning and growing, exploring, giving. I am an Ordained Minister, although I consider myself to be much more spiritual rather than religious. The love of my heart, other than my beloved husband, is animals. You just gotta love 'em. What a lesson we can learn about unconditional love from them. It doesn't matter if we are away for 5 minutes or 5 days . . . they are so excited to see us walk through the door each and every time. Although I was born in the city, I spent much of my childhood in the countryside and that is where my heart and soul feel the most free. You can dress me up and take me out for a night on the town, but I am just as happy (probably happier) in a canoe, floating down a river with a fishing pole in my hands. Or cuddling up beside a fire in the woodstove in our log cabin watching the snow fall in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Now that is a piece of Heaven I don't ever want to give up. You can just look out the window in the morning and see the deer playing in the forest that surrounds the cabin. And at night . . . oh, at night it is so dark that you see all the stars in the sky. It is magic. All of your senses are enhanced in the country. The smell of a field of hay that has just been cut is so sweet. The sounds that you hear at night are amazing; whoever said you go to the country for peace and quiet was very misleading - it really is quite noisy at night! And no matter how hot the days are, the night always brings a gentle cool breeze that washes over you while you dream sweet dreams of the day past and of days to come. And if you are really blessed, as I am, you may have a little dog, maybe a little miniature dauchshaund, who cuddles up next to you while you sleep. I can feel her little breath on my cheek as she breaths softly, her head on my pillow next to mine. It just doesn't get any sweeter. She lies between me and my husband, somehow stretching so that she touches each of us all night. She is the most gentle little thing I have ever seen. She usually has to go potty during the night, so she will give me one gentle little lick, either on my hand or my cheek to see if I am awake to take her out. And so she has trained me.