When my youngest went to kindergarden, I told myself I would try to get something published. I have been writing forever and have stacks of poems, short stories, newspaper and magazine articles, kids books and a partial screenplay ...not to mention.. untold first draft of all sorts of manuscripts gathering dust in varous bins and drawers.  (thats another story)  

I sold my first article that fall and it appeared in the Family Section of the Chicago Tribune in the January of 2000. When "Honk if you are in the neighborhood" came out, I thought I'd died and went to heaven.  Someone actually paid me to do what I love!  A photographer drove out to my house to take my picture....I changed my hairdo 20 times,...so many decisions,  part or no part, bangs or no bangs....he was late ..so I chanded my outfit a half dozen times, yet, all was for naught, the top of my head was cut off in the pic...oh well....it was a big moment in my life. BIG!

The issue came out on Super Bowl Sunday during one of the biggest snowstorms of the year.  I was so afraid no one would see the article, all the papers were burried,so my son and I shoveled everyones driveway on the block and personally handed the neighbors their papers.  Most people were too busy with superbowl parties to read the paper that day but I did hear from a few moms weeks later who saved their old papers to read in their car waiting for thier kids in the car pool line.   

With great expectations, I went to the  grocery store with the kids and grabbed a few copies, hoping to see someone I knew. No such luck! So, I turned to the guy behind me in line and said, "Hey, look at that, I'm in the paper!"  He grabbed his 6 pack of beer, and package of hot dogs and buns and  moved to the express lane then said, "Cool, Are you in the police beat?"

Since I could not get anyone in my family to read the story, I had it blown up and put it in the bathroom. 
5 years later, one of my daughters came to me and said, "You know that story you wrote a long time ago, well, no offense, I never read it before today, actually, it was pretty good, you ought to write more!"  And thats another story!