Cindy Wilson-Buranek

I was born in Illinois in 1957, yes, I am that old. I am the sixth child in a family of nine. My mother was an avid reader and passed on her love of the written word to me. My mother watches from above and my eight brothers and sisters continue to hold my literary hand.

To escape the craziness of a large, loud family, I would sneak away and write. In high school I was encouraged by Ms. Beck to enter two writing contests. I won first and second place, my first monetary acknowledgement of talent. Ms. Beck pushed me to attend The University of Iowa, Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop.  Over 15 years passed before I followed her advice.

I attended the Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop and felt I had come home. Surrounded by other writers that understood the need, the burning inside that haunts your soul to write, I published my first online story, “Let Them Eat Cake”, a humorous story of my fight with breast cancer. My fellow writers yelled at me to “quit paying for classes and go write the damn books, Cindy!” I didn’t listen…

After my daughter, Ashley almost died in a car accident; life’s uncertainty changed me. I quit my Project Engineer’s job in Iowa, moved to Florida and wrote “The Postcard.” I listened.

I live in Florida with my husband, Mark and our three dogs, Sophie, Maddie and Moose. My daughter, Ashley, is a first grade teacher and is married to Isaac, a very old soul.

I recently finished my third book, “Spilled Coffee & Broken Cups,” a humorous story of a woman’s drive away from one life into another. Sound familiar?

My dearest friend, one that I lean on when I can no longer stand on my own recently summed up my last ten years as “wandering.”  One word summing up a decade of my life requires reflection, so I wandered away to think about this statement. Walking past her refrigerator to begin my walk-about of thought, I read the magnet stuck directly above her freezer compartment. “Life is a journey, not a destination.”  I want to open the freezer door, slam it shut and see if the magnet sticks, but I don’t.  I walk out wondering if Emerson would find the irony as amusing as I do.

Stepping out into the cold, I shiver with the lingering touch of her words on my skin. My friends intention was from the right place, it always is, from her heart. We are different, which is why we have stayed friends for 30 years.  I want an opposing opinion. Friends are our sounding boards not echos of our own words reverberating back.   As anyone would, I prefer the high notes over the low ones, but if the sound rings true and clear I will listen to the music, but I sense her growing impatience with my lack of rhythm.

I admit it, I am easily distracted by everyday life. I am an observer of the world I live in, I find it fascinating, sad, bewildering and comical all in the course of one day. I pass a homeless man holding a sign, “Will Work for Food” at the I-74 exit to 53rd street in Bettendorf, Iowa. His face etched with years of a hard life, he is overweight and wearing a torn “George W. Bush For President” shirt.  I roll down my window and hand him a McDonald’s Happy Meal and it works, for a moment he is happy.

Later, the same day, I walk in the snow and see a perfect imprint of a leaf on a mound of plowed snow and look to the sky acknowledging Gods art. I am a dreamer of how I wish the world was, trying to avoid how it is, what it has become. I have tried many things, writing books, articles, the auction business, manufacturing and now at 54 I am working in an industrial factory. It is not what I would prefer to do, it is an act of necessity brought on by my lack of rhythm, or so my friend thinks. It is true. But, am I a failure for trying things outside my comfort zone or am I a soul traveler, an adventurer of life? God will decide in the end.

Until then, is it okay if I just keep wandering, trying to understand a world I no longer fit in? I am a lover of words, written or spoken, scratched on the side of a building or carved in a tree, it is the message that lingers. Hope. I have hope, not easily found in todays world. Yes, it is true that I have no money, but I have my words to keep me warm. I suppose, If I were a scrabble word, my friend would tell me that I am using too many blanks to form the word “life.” I would tell her, to me Life is a verb, not a noun and its Ok to spell it with tilted, tainted tiles.

 Emerson once said, “I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost work, but the solidest thing we know.”

I am a wanderer,  but I am not lost. I am right here.

On solid ground with friends I hold dear.

Friendship is a constant, that never wanders and that… has a rhythm all its own.

Calling himself a “private citizen trying to make a difference.,” Howard Schultz has initiated a “Create Jobs for USA” program stating businesses need to do more for “low income people and communities.” With a projected compensation of 22 million dollars as CEO of Starbucks he would seem to be an unlikely crusader for the poor, but he is a no nonsense man that has implored Washington to “put your feet in the shoes of Americans who are being left behind and wake up and understand you took an oath of office to represent the country, not personal ideology.” Mr. Schultz has kicked in 5 million dollars to kick start the USA jobs program. He has partnered with Opportunity Finance Network, a national network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)—that has lent over 23 billion dollars since 2009 to help low-income, disadvantaged people and communities join the economic mainstream. Schultz and OFN have joined together to jump start a simple idea, “Let’s Get America Back to Work.”

On Nov. 1, Create Jobs for USA will start to accept donations online and in their stores. For every 5 bucks donated the donor will receive a bracelet that is inscribed with the word, “Indivisible.”  Every 5 bucks can help provide $35 worth of financing for community businesses

This morning on Morning Joe, Mr. Schultz stated that small businesses in America can’t get access to credit. He called it a bi-partisan problem, a lack of leadership from Washington. This is the same man that refused to donate another dime to any political party until the nation’s leaders stop political posturing. Howard is as hot as his coffee and has the moral fortitude that could change our country, so I will drink his coffee and support his cause. I ask all of you to do the same. The success stories of his new partner, Opportunity Finance Network are inspiring in their simplicity and logic. In my state of Florida, they provided a total of 26 million dollars to finance Jacksonville Alliance for KIPP schools which is a non-profit organization which operates KIPP charter schools. This loan created 130 permanent jobs and 170 construction jobs.

So, support their cause by clicking this link…. http://www.createjobsforusa.org/   Donate. I will.

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