A year of being inspired by area's amazing people

It's the time of year for us in the newsroom to prepare for the upcoming press awards. This means, for me, part of the next couple weeks will be reserved for sifting through old papers and deciding if and what feature stories I've written may be worthy of contest submission.

It's amazing how fast a year, full of ups and downs, goes by. Yes, certain stories didn't exactly pan out as I thought they would, and every day isn't always peachy, but generally speaking, when I look back and sift through a year's worth of Life & Leisure papers I'm reminded of how good I've got it.

I love telling the stories of the extraordinary folks that call Bedford County home.

I get to tell the stories of folks who've beaten the odds in one way or another, like Cindy Victory, who overcame some weighty issues that many of us could relate to. She also touched many other folks who got to read about the woman they have seen walking all over town, day and night, for the last several years.

Cindy had an addiction to food that prompted her life to spiral out of control. She became depressed and isolated, and only made trips to Walmart in the middle of the night for fear of seeing people.

When her father died, she promised him she'd change her ways and boy, did she ever. As of a year ago, Cindy had lost 265 pounds and by now probably more. In doing so, she recaptured her life and inspired others to do the same.

I learned that mental challenges are no match for a strong will, through Will Hall. I got to spend a morning with Will and his wonderful family at Celebration Way, where Will works. Mentally challenged, Will, now 29, began going to the center after he graduated from high school when his parents, who both work, couldn't care for him during the day.

Will got busy and now, 10 years later, he shows up at the center every day -- to work. With a heartwarming smile on his face, this enthusiastic young man will tell you he makes beds and cleans bathrooms. Residents of the center will tell you what Will really does:

"He makes us happy," they say.

The traditional education system didn't quite work for Isaac Cawthon, but through hard work and dedicated teachers, Isaac found a path to success through the Tennessee Technology Center. He now builds robots. I got to see his determination and success first hand. That inspired me to work hard, just as cancer survivor Nita Carroll taught me the importance of following your gut instinct. Nita didn't listen to doctors when her gut told her to have her breasts removed and because of this, she is with us today.

Little children have touched me as much or more as adults. Spend an hour with the charismatic Sean Douglas and you'll feel better about life, too. Sean lost his father in a tragic car accident not too long ago, but his smile lights up this town, and he finds joy in life's simple pleasures. I wish we could all be a little more like Sean.

Marie Lane agreed to let me interview her about chickens and the importance of cooking fresh food, but I was fortunate enough to get a fine country meal out of our meeting -- and a whole lot more. Marie, a mother, wife, sister, author, farmer and cook extraordinare, is just one of this county's human treasures I'm lucky to now call my friend.

A phone interview I didn't think much about at first shocked me when the woman on the other end of the conversation bravely shared her amazing story of love, loss and moving forward. Melita Bradley lost her husband, tragically, but she still has two miracle sons that fill her life with tremendous joy. Melita's story, which went on to be featured in a woman's magazine in another country, probably touched me more than any other story last year. From her, I learned that life goes on and miracles do happen.

More recently, other than fattening me up with her amazing Christmas cookies, Jean Raby put me in the Christmas spirit by showing me it is better to give than to receive.

Sure, sometimes a day in the life of a lifestyles reporter isn't always great. Mistakes and typos make it into the paper, and bad photos sometimes make a great recipe look inedible, but that's small potatoes compared to the gain I receive when the likes of Cindy, Melita, Marie and all the others candidly open up and share their stories with me.

Yeah, I've got it pretty good ...

-- Sadie Fowler is lifestyles editor of the Times-Gazette. She may be reached at sfowler@t-g.com.