Good morning, thank you for taking the time out of your day to start this journey with me.  A little back story on Lynda’s Local.  Journey back in time with me.  I love talking about my sweet Mama Mac!

January 4th, 1954 Lynda Marie McClure was born to Hank & Belva Chinn.  She would grow up on a farm doing a lot of farming things and she would Marry a farmer and later became a mom to 5 very different girls.  Her passion was being a mom.  She loved being a mom to us girls and all her flowers and critters.  Her love for them was fierce and she was ALWAYS smiling.

In the fall of 2008, she was having a normal day and bent over to pick up her dog, Taco, and she had a sharp pain shoot down her arm.  She called my sister who is a nurse and then quickly made a phone call to see her PCP.  She was given a chest x-ray and that is when they found the first “mass.”   She was referred onto an oncologist, and thus began our life with the big ugly “C” word.

When they went to meet with the Thoracic surgeon my dad said, “as soon as he walked into the room I knew it wasn’t going to be good.”  There were 26 legions on my mom’s brain and they didn’t think she would make it through surgery.  Not the words anyone wanted to hear.  I will never forget that phone call.  I will never forget the selfish feelings I had knowing that my mom would be gone so much sooner than I ever wanted her to be.  They left the hospital and went to church.  My dad is a man of great faith, and I know that is what made him strong enough to handle the weight of his world caving in.

My mom was still smiling.  She was always smiling.  She chose joy and she faced cancer with all the fight she had until it sadly called her home on April 6th, 2011.  Her passing left us all with a huge hole in our heart.  But we knew she wanted us to keep her joy, her spirit, and her love alive and to share her story and carry on her legacy of being a great mama to our children.

I could write word after word about my love for her and how I wish I could talk to her one more time now that I am a mom.  Gosh, I have so many questions.  I have so many things to say I am sorry, you were right.  She didn’t ever tell me how to live.  But she taught me, by showing up and living out her best days.  She was always smiling, talking to strangers, and so proud to be from Douglass, KS.  My goal is for my boys to love me and others the way she showed me.

This brings me to WHY I am creating Lynda’s Local love.

She loved all things local.  Especially Antique Stores.  One time she came to visit me, she flew into Memphis so I would drive her to Graceland.  Another time, she made me take her to Chattanooga, drive back roads to Knoxville, and hit up every antique store we could see along the way.  I have so many things she bought me that my boys love.  It is like she could see them enjoying them and made sure that I had them.  We never ate at the Chain places.  Always local, and man, I wish I could eat like her and stay as skinny as she did.

Today I would like to introduce you to my good friend and small business owner friend, Sarah Reade.  I met Sarah at church at Crosspoint in Hutchinson, KS.  We landed in the same small group and became friends.  If you love books, you can Join her Facebook group.

I asked Sarah to share a little bit about herself with you, so here you go,

Why do you do what you do?

There is a connection that occurs when you sit down to read with your children. They sink into you, they relax, they feel at home. I want everyone to be able to feel that connection.

An average day of being a book lady… I spend about an hour a day doing business-related tasks–working on orders, social media, book parties, book drives, and more! Most of this time is split into smaller chunks throughout the day around my kids’ schedules. Our CEO says that UBAM is something we do for our families, not to our families and I really believe this is true.