One of the things I find satisfying in life are those “full circle” moments, sort of an “aha!” moment when you can actually make sense of something in your life. I experienced one of those events recently when my editor Bob Weir asked me to begin writing a monthly column for the newspaper.

    As I began to ponder what on earth I would write a monthly column ABOUT, I started sifting through memories and ended up way back in 1977 at Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, where I was also asked to write a column on a regular basis for the school newspaper. The name of that column was “People in Particular,” and each week I would find a student of interest and profile him/her. A couple that stand out in my mind was the very quiet kid that not many people knew, but it turned out he was oozing talent and played violin in a symphony orchestra. Then there was the ultra-cool popular kid who had a pet iguana and regularly walked the creature on a leash in the park.

    Among the many things I learned while writing that column was that everyone has a story. Sometimes it is evident, and other times it is hidden, but that truth has remained with me through the years. I think what I would like to do with this opportunity for a monthly column is to go back to my roots and profile different people in the community. Of course, I can’t do that without your help. So I’d like to ask you to look around, take the time to find out someone’s story, and let me in on it. I’d like to interview one local resident each month and share with our readers what makes them unique. Maybe they don’t play in a symphony orchestra or walk their pet iguana on a leash, but who knows WHAT we will find out!? You can e-mail those column ideas to me at michelle@thenewsconnection.com, and then start watching for profiles of your friends and neighbors in this spot once a month.

    So, for this very first column, I’ll just introduce myself to those of you who haven’t already bumped into me at a chamber function, a community event, a local sporting event or church. I’m Michelle Draper, and I’ve lived in this community for 21 years. My whole life has been spent within an hour and half of the metroplex, as I grew up in Fort Worth, went to college in Waco, moved for a short time to Gordon, TX (population 503), located an hour west of Fort Worth, and then here, to Southern Denton County which truly feels like home. Writing has been my life-long passion, and it started in fourth grade when my teacher made a huge deal of a short story I’d written. She had me visit each fourth grade classroom to read the story aloud. Thank you, Mrs. Bass, for giving me the confidence to believe that people might actually like to read what I’d written.

    Couple that with a journalism teacher in high school who forced each student, no matter how unwilling, to live up to her very high expectations and you get a person with very high regard for the written word. (Thanks, Miz T!) I majored in journalism at Baylor University, and my career over the years has meandered from newspaper to radio, from teaching high school to teaching preschool, and from writing news stories to selling advertising. In each scenario, the focus was on the written or the spoken word, and I’m very happy to be here now to continue on that journey. I’ll be looking for your e-mails, and I can’t wait to meet you!