Remembering Linda: A Woman’s Reflections on the Wealth of Beauty and Bounty That Surrounds Us.

By Mike Fulmer

Linda Fulmer was a mother, wife, teacher, director, author, and now philanthropist who lived life out loud. Through her living, writing, and teaching, she inspired and encouraged her family, friends, students, and readers to do the same. Her family and friends have selected fifty-five of Linda's "Enjoying the Journey" articles that were published in the Tribune-Courier. You are invited to "Enjoy the Journey" with Linda.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798823002752

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© 2023 Mike Fulmer. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

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ISBN: 979-8-8230-0274-5 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-0275-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023904105

Published by AuthorHouse 06/05/2023

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Remembering Linda

Contents

About Linda

A Letter from Mike

Enjoying the Journey – Inspirational

And the Mix

Anger-Free

Ahead of Your Time

By Design

Courting Collaboration

By Adjusting

Get To

Soulfully

Enhanced

Contrasts

Inspired by Words Spoken and Otherwise

March Meanderings

With Acceptance

Wonder Full

Helping Ourselves to Happiness

Turning Up the Volume

More Kinds of Kindness

However We Can

Movies, Music, and Magic

Water Wonders

Today

Some Thoughts on Change

Enjoying the Journey – Family & Friends

By Broadening

Sweet Home Alabama

Savannah Scenes

Musically

With Company

A New View

The Best Part

Savoring Savannah

Patiently

On the Road Again

Breaking Spring

Having a Field Day

Relishing the Redbuds

Along the Road

Passages

With Enthusiastic Celebration

Far from Average

Road Trip

With Calves

Enjoying the Journey - Travel With Friends

Ohio Beauty

Seven and the City

Weebles Touring and Towering

Bay Day

Seven and the City Off Broadway

Weebles Wind Down

Enjoying the Journey - Handling Cancer

New Journey Continued

Minute by Minute

Kindly

Memorable Moments

Silver Linings

With Less

Appreciating Home

By Breathing

Yellow Moose Perspectives©

Linda Fulmer Kindness Initiative Award

Love from Family and Friends

Acknowledgements

All watercolors, front/back cover and inside, were painted by Karen Jennings, Linda’s longtime dear friend.

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About Linda

Enjoying the Journey was Linda’s motto, and through her writing, teaching, and living, she inspired and encouraged others to do the same.

Linda was born November 9, 1947 in Mansfield, Ohio to parents Burdell and Dorothy (Eyerly) Rader. Linda was the oldest of three sisters, Linda, Pam, and Laura Jean.

Linda passed away April 30, 2014 at age 66 from ovarian cancer.

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Linda and Mike Fulmer were married February 5, 1966. They raised three children, Beth, Scott, and Mark. There are now six grandchildren, Mick, Kearstin, Jordan, Jerod, Zain, Brycen, and three great grandchildren, Elliott, Max, and Parker. Kearstin and Dan are going to have a girl in October.

Both Linda and Mike graduated from Ontario High School. Linda received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Education from Ohio State University. She taught sixth grade Language Arts at Ontario for thirty years. Linda retired in 2004.

Linda directed many Ontario High School plays and musicals and was Ontario’s first Recreation Coordinator. She was a member of the Ontario Methodist Church and sang in the choir.

Linda was actively involved in the Ontario Growth Association, served as a Board member of the Little Buckeye Children’s Museum, and organized Ontario’s annual Christmas Bazaar.

Linda co-founded Yellow Moose Perspectives© with Ruth Grass. Yellow Moose Perspectives© created and conducted staff development training seminars and workshops for organizations. She and Ruth co-authored two books.

Before her death, Linda and her family established the Linda Fulmer Kindness Initiative Award. This award is annually presented to an Ontario High School senior who has shown acts of kindness to others through their attitude and behavior.

Between 2005 and 2014 Linda authored a series of newspaper articles titled Enjoying the Journey for the Tribune-Courier. These articles entertained and touched her readers. They were Linda’s reflections on the things she loved, about family, friends, travel, theater, music, reading, writing, and many more...

Linda’s family and friends have selected fifty-five Enjoying the Journey articles for this publication. The articles are divided into four sections which personify how Linda’s energy encouraged readers to face each day on a positive note.

The last section, Handling Cancer, reveals how Linda lived life out loud and continued to find happiness in her uphill struggle.

Proceeds from this publication will be donated to the Linda Fulmer Kindness Initiative Award.

A Letter from Mike

Dear Linda,

Remember? We were in chemistry class passing notes to each other as our teacher had his back to us. From that moment on I didn’t want to do anything I was supposed to do. I only wanted you to marry me!

And, you did.

What you didn’t know, what you couldn’t tell me then, was that I would share you with thousands of others who would also come to love you.

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It would not have mattered.

You loved love and shared love with all. Your family. Your friends. Your students. Your readers.

You once wrote...

There are so many delightful things! Breezes and babies, dogs and delicious dishes, hands to hold, laughter to share, books to read, and sunsets to watch. There are mountains and meadows, still waters and rushing streams, quiet reflections, and noisy gatherings. There’s a sense of possibility and promise in every today. We can meet someone who inspires us or connects us to something we’ve been looking for. We can learn something new that changes our whole perspective. We can do something that gives us deep satisfaction. We can help another person have a good day. We can visit old friends and make new ones.

Linda, your glass was always half-full. You always found the silver linings. Your enthusiasm was contagious. Your smile infectious. You even shared with us from time-to-time what others wrote that moved you personally.

Your light rose from your soul.

In order for your light to shine even brighter, your family, friends, and readers have published our favorite Enjoying the Journey articles published in the Tribune-Courier. We have also included comments from those whom you touched over the years and some of your Yellow Moose work.

Linda, you didn’t wait in life for the storms to pass. You always danced in the rain. And dancing with you was the best fifty years of my life.

I love you still.

Pal…

Enjoying the Journey – Inspirational

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Things I love…connection – the sure knowledge that we live in a world connected by an energy field we have yet to fully understand, each of us a separate and yet inseparable part of all that exists. Each of us with the power to create as we were created, to love and to celebrate.

Linda

Enjoying the Journey – And the Mix

By Linda Fulmer

Spring is teasing us! She isn’t quite here yet, but she’s lurking behind stumps and leaving small signs. Today, for example, although snow still lingers in our woods, the grass is a bright green and it smells like spring. The forecast is for yet more snow by mid-week, but that’s to be expected. It’s not quite March.

Some people complain about the ups and downs of the thermometer lately, but at least there’s something for everyone in this mix we’ve been experiencing. It’s been cold enough to keep snow on the slopes, and the days when the sun shines and the temps support sweaters rather than heavy coats is encouragement for those who like their winters short and sweet.

Personally, I can appreciate Mother Nature no matter what she delivers. I’ve always enjoyed variety – in weather, scenery, and humans. It’s one of the reasons I like traveling, seeing new sights, meeting new people, experiencing the culture, and hearing the regional dialect.

Variety is also one of the blessings of teaching. Every student is special, a unique personality in a wonderful mix of humanity. Recently, in my ongoing cleaning-out project, I’ve come upon some sixth-grade writing from classes I had over the years. What fun it’s been to see again that variety of ideas, to remember their pre-adolescent faces as I read their words, especially when I know many of them as adults and appreciate their evolution.

I’m learning, not only to love the moments, but to be a keener observer of the differences, the mix. I’m more tuned in to the nuances and it’s most rewarding. We miss so much in our hurry and scurry to get someplace, do something, and cram as much as we can into a day. Bustle blurs our vision. Too often we don blinders because we must if we’re to maneuver the day with such long lists. Only by being consciously in tune can we open wide to the wealth of beauty and bounty that always surrounds us. Only by being consciously aware will we take the time to appreciate it all.

We don’t realize how much we miss the luxury of noticing and wondering, of walking slowly, of sitting quietly and breathing deeply. We talk a lot about there not being enough time, but everyone has the same 24 hours in a day and every minute is a choice. The key is to make it a conscious choice to spend that minute and the next doing what matters most to us.

Some routines are good. They keep us grounded. But the mix is marvelous, too. It keeps boredom at bay and offers endless possibilities. So, weather, do whatever you like. Bring us sun and clouds, heat and cold, snow and rain, hazy mornings and clear moonlit nights. Send up shoots and bring down shooting stars. Continue teasing us because it keeps us on our toes and reminds us who’s really in charge.

Bring on the new ideas, the discoveries, the outlandish designs, and the differences, too. May we love the mix without feeling the need to complain or criticize, to judge or justify. Whether with weather or people, preferences or ideas, it’s the variety - the mix – that bubbles up around us, the mix that allows life to amaze and engage us. The mix makes for a most enjoyable journey.

Enjoying the Journey – Anger-Free

By Linda Fulmer

Anger-free? Who is anger-free? It’s a fair question, and the answer, if we’re honest, is hardly anybody! On the other-hand, it’s an admirable aspiration, one that is increasingly relevant and worth exploring.

I watched an episode of the Katie Couric show last week. It was taped in Newtown, CT and focused, of course, on the Sandy Hook tragedy. Parents of several slain children shared their memories of bright-eyed youngsters full of potential, their pictures a poignant reminder of lives cut way too short. The self-less counselor, so close to retirement, was remembered by her husband. Teacher’s families expressed the painful pride they feel for their slain daughters and sisters.

What is surprising to some is that, in spite of their incredible losses, the people of Newtown have little anger. They choose not to waste their own lives nor dishonor the lives of those who died by succumbing to that emotion. Instead, they have bonded in the strength of a much more powerful one. We are Newtown. We choose love, they declare. It is, indeed, a choice. Seventeen Newtown residents, including parents like Nicole Hockley whose son Dylan died on December 14, also launched the Sandy Hook Promise only a month after the shootings. The organization’s goal is a national dialogue about gun control, school safety, and mental health. I don’t know yet what the changes are. I come with no pre-conceived agenda. I do believe there is no quick fix single action, Hockley said.

Katie also had experts on the Newtown episode. One talked about guns and the other about mental health, both issues that have dominated the aftermath of the shootings in Newtown. Both experts echoed the admission of the