In this episode we are excited to host our first guest from the Silent Generation. Sharon candidly and openly shares her inspiring life story. We learn about her great-grandparents adventures during the Oklahoma Land Rush, and how her great-grandfather arrested Jesse James and The Dalton Boys when he was a sheriff in Kansas. Their move to Oregon in the early 1900s secured a Portland, Oregon upbringing for future generations. We discuss WWII, and the resulting affects of PTSD on the men who fought and how that affected women and family life going forward. Sharon shares about her childhood which was rooted in responsibility, change and for a period, silent trauma. We cover the concept of abuse as a child as well as abuse within a marriage. Sharon reflects on a time where she sought therapy in any form presented, whether it was through reading, research or even through the prison system that her brother flowed in and out of as he battled addiction. Through her own sheer strength and sense of hope that she was deserving of a better life, she cleverly and quietly escaped her abusive marriage. Sharon shares her heartbreaking experience of her daughter going no contact, and expresses it with a grace and vulnerability that can only be described as a gift of understanding to anyone who can relate to the sheer pain a mother must process in such a distorted situation. As Sharon herself put it, “I was trying very hard to come to a reasonable explanation for an unreasonable situation.” We learn about how, post-divorce, she finished her degree in one year by taking an overload of classes, and how a one-way ticket to southern California for a new position was the transitional moment into securing herself a new journey midlife. We learn about her work with TIP, Trauma Intervention Program, and how she used her own traumatic experiences in life to simply be an anchor for people when they were in the midst of sudden tragedy. One common theme throughout our conversation was that Sharon’s grandmother was her anchor, and there’s probably no measure to how far her influence reached in Sharon’s life. Sharon shares about her years living in Arizona, and eventual return to Oregon to live near her beloved son, family and the Pacific Northwest. As stated earlier, this is an episode that will inspire, plain and simple. You truly don’t want to miss this one! In closing, we’ll quote Sharon once again, “I don’t do negative, what’s the point?”

00:00:17 Intro

00:00:52 War Babies

00:04:05 Oklahoma Land Rush and Jesse James

00:14:07 Portland, Oregon in the Early 1900s

00:18:07 Family Background

00:34:58 WWII, PTSD and The Homefront

00:41:47 A Mother In Search of Stability

00:46:33 Being the Responsible Daughter

00:51:39 The Fallout From an Interracial Relationship in the early 1960s

01:04:01 Experience With First Stepfather

01:06:33 Experience With Second Stepfather

01:16:37 Being a Victim of Abuse as a Child

01:36:40 Having a Sibling With Addiction Issues

01:43:13 Life After Graduating From High School

01:56:42 Meeting and Marrying Husband

02:02:02 Becoming a Mother

02:05:20 The Perfect Storm of Narcissism, Abuse and Alcoholism

02:09:53 Escaping an Abusive Marriage

02:36:31 Building a New Life After Divorce

02:42:25 Daughter Going No Contact

03:08:13 Using the Insight Gained From Trauma to Help Others

03:11:13 A New Journey Midlife

03:22:53 TIP: Trauma Intervention Program

03:28:13 Advice to Women in an Abusive Relationship

03:34:00 Shout Out to Son

03:39:01 5 Year Vision

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