My Mother's First Birthday Party

On Valentine’s Day 2008, my mother, Patricia Solomon, was in the hospital in a coma due to meningitis.  We were told to hope for the best and expect the worse.  We were fortunate; she woke up from her coma and recognized all of us. 

This is but one of the things that made my mother’s 75^th Birthday so special.

On the left, my mother, pictured with her
grandmother, sister, and brother.

About a year ago she and I were laughing about a family member, who likes to drop hints that his birthday is approaching, expecting a party.  Something any six-year-old boy would do, except this boy was older than my mother. That is when I discovered my mother had never had a birthday party, not even as a child.

So this January 2014 in the midst of the worst winter weather the South has experienced in years, we celebrated the matriarch of Solomon’s Happy Hill Farm’s 75^th birthday with a party!

The party was held at Annie Jones United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall in Walnut Hill, Florida. Walnut Hill is a small community located in the Florida Panhandle.

My parents: Preston &
Patricia Solomon.

My mother had a wonderful time.
I think everyone in Walnut Hill who was not sick with the flu bug came to help us celebrate.

Life is never perfect!

Unfortunately, my brother Michael Solomon and his family did not make the party.  My sister-in-law Denise was taking care of her own mother who is battling cancer.  Michael and his daughter Makenna, who were driving in from Texas, got stuck in Louisiana when the roads closed due to ice.





Life is not perfect- BUT we came close. The party was fabulous!

The day of the party the temperature was a balmy 50-something and the sun was shining.



A few days later the ice storm hit, I was iced in at my parent's house for a few days.  By the time it was safe to venture out Solomon's Happy Hill Farm looked like this:

Luckily the ice storm did not hit us until after the party.

All of our friends and family who flew in from out of state, or drove in from parts of Florida and Alabama made it there and back safe and sound.

Best of all, my children's beautiful Granny Pat still glows, when asked about her first birthday party.

Tis the season, so don't get caught with coal in your stocking!   Santa lights his Christmas lights with Nuclear Power. 

It's hard to believe, but it's been two years since my children

helped create this video for the release of my children's book

about nuclear power plants.

Another family will be waiting for Santa to arrive down this 

particular fireplace. The stocking, and nutcrackers pictured here are in a storage unit somewhere in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Tabitha and Jordan have their own places to decorate the year. Which means Tabitha is decorating and Jordan is watching his roommate decorate.

The Thanksgiving holiday found my family cozying up next to a hotel room radiator in Eastern Tennessee where my husband and I are building what will be our empty-nest house.  

Which makes the memory of doing this video with my kids seem sweeter than it probably was. 

With any luck, this time next year the construction phase of our new home will be perceived the same sweet way!

 Ho Ho Ho...  

Spirit of Survivorship: NC Komen Pinkfest 2013

Receiving the 2013 Maureen Thomas Jordan Spirit of Survivorship Award.

On Sunday October 6, 2013 it was my pleasure to attend the Susan G. Komen Triangle to the Coast Annual Pinkfest Event. This year Pinkfest was held at the Renaissance Raleigh North Hills Hotel where survivors and our friends and family were invited to enjoy an afternoon of spa and beauty treatments along with drinks, door prizes and of course amazing sweets.

Tabitha and I grabbed our share of desserts, claimed our table and made a bee line to sign ourselves up for the spa treatments.  Then we set down to listen to the ceremonial portion of Pinkfest where the high light of the event was the introduction of sisters Diane Burnette, and Kathleen Thomas who in conjunction with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure NC Triangle to the Coast affiliate presented the Maureen Thomas Jordan Spirit of Survivorship Award.

This award is given in memory of their beloved sister Maureen Thomas Jordan.  Throughout her 9½ year battle with breast cancer, Maureen never lost her hope, courage, strength or faith. She was an inspiration to all who knew her.  The award is given to a breast cancer survivor who like Maureen represents the spirit of true survivorship: someone who faces this disease with grace and courage, who provides service to breast cancer survivors and is an inspiration to others.

The sisters began their presentation with a quote from this year’s recipient.  One I recognized because it has been on Nutcracker Publishing Company's website since the publication of Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy led to my first public speaking event in 2001.   “A victim fears tomorrow, a survivor lives life as if there is no tomorrow- despite her fears.” - Amelia Frahm

As soon as I heard it I realized I was going to be the 2013 recipient of the Maureen Thomas Jordan Spirit of Survivorship Award.  I cannot adequately put into words the range of emotions I felt at that moment.

I nudged Tabitha and asked her if she had known about this.  To which she replied, if she had known she would have insisted I wear the pink dress I had debated on instead of the jeans I was wearing. 

If I had known I would have been recording the entire ceremony so I could replay it anytime I am having a bad day or feeling rejected.  Yep, it would get a lot of play.  My take on life is you don’t accomplish anything worthy of an award without first experiencing humiliation and rejection.

To experience the opposite was humbling. I sit there trying to think of what I should say when I accepted the award and telling myself over and over- do not cry- do not cry.

Receiving the Maureen Thomas Jordan Spirit of Survivorship Award is a memory I will cherish the rest of my life.  It served as a poignant reminder of how blessed I have been and validation that something I have done has indeed mattered.  

I am indebted to Christine Andrade, Corporate Sponsorship Manager at the NC Komen Affiliate who nominated me and am so grateful that my daughter, Tabitha was there to share this moment with me.  

Receiving the  2013 Maureen Thomas Jordan Spirit of Survivorship Award was an incredible honor. Although I received the award, much of the credit for it goes to my family, friends and even complete strangers.

As any survivor who has thrived will understand, my cancer diagnosis did not just affect me, but everyone who loved me and some who did not. I am grateful to all of you.

Happy Pink Pumpkin Month!

Looking Backward

In July we sold our North Carolina home; the movers came and hauled our things to storage; we helped our daughter move into her own apartment in Raleigh, NC, and watched as our son drove back to Cullowhee, NC, where he now lives and works while attending Western Carolina University. 

The dog and I drove to Alabama to join my husband, Randy, where he has worked full-time and lived part-time for years. Instead of commuting by air, we get to live together and commute mostly by car. We have been spending weekends driving to TN where we plan to build a house. A house we will move into without our children.

It happens to all mothers, and it has happened to me. The babies my life revolved around, and the reasons I wrote a children’s book in the first place, have grown up.

Only an adult Jordan would
 have paid $ for this!

On September 14^th, I watched as my children paid a dollar to dance with the groom, their close childhood friend Andrew Toperzer, at a wedding reception held at his parents’ home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Jordan & Andrew-
back in the day!

As I gazed across the dance floor at my own kids and our former Minnesota neighbor kids, it was that surreal feeling of disbelief, pride, and surprise. In my mind, I still - and probably always will - picture the children they once were.

My son, Jordan, was a chubby, dimpled five-year-old, and my daughter, Tabitha, a precocious seven years when we bid good bye to the first best friends and neighbors they loved, and moved across the country to Minnesota from Tennessee.

Our new neighbors, Steve and Denise Toperzer, came over with all four of their children in tow to introduce themselves.

Paul, Krista, Andrew, Laura.- all grown up. Unfortunately or maybe - lucky for them- all of my photo albums and most of my pictures taken in their youthful past are in storage.

Paul, their oldest son, was around 13-years-old, and had a look that said he would have rather been anywhere else. In time we came to adore Paul, and even liked his gang of friends I tagged “the lost boys”, but my first impression was that I would have been fine with him being anywhere else!  Ha!

Eleven-year-old Krista, their oldest daughter, was shy and quiet, but her mom let us know that she had just been certified to babysit. My children would soon beg for us to go out alone so Krista could babysit them.

Andrew, whom I would be accused of favoring, was, eight, and the only child who looked enthused to meet us. Of course I favored him- despite annoying me with his biased opinions on anything and everything, he was the kid most apt to do my bidding on any harebrained project I might have- and he didn't mind bending a rule or three.

Laura, their youngest, was a year younger than Tabitha. I don’t remember if she stayed to play that very day, but I do remember that after quietly sizing each other up, it took about a nanosecond for another precocious child and Tabitha to decide they would be best friends forever.

Today and 

only yesterday.

It seems unbelievable that this all took place more than a decade ago. Or that this January 2014  it will be two decades since I was diagnosed with breast cancer and first penned Tickles Tabitha’s Cancer-tankerous Mommy for Tabitha and Jordan. It has been a life-altering journey full of highs and lows, some of them occurring at the exact same time.

I once told a Minnesota audience that not even a telephone fortuneteller (this was before the internet) would have predicted all that had happened to me because it would have sounded too far-fetched.

After all, who in their right mind would have believed I would end up living in Minnesota? Or miss it when I left?

The Nutcracker Publishing Company has given me a career, identity, and recognition outside of my life as a wife and mother. But best of all, it gave me the ability to mesh my personal and professional lives. In between media pitches and book events, there was unicyling club, children’s parties, and even cross-country moves.

While my children were preoccupied with the drama that childhood provides like- the infamous neighborhood war Tabitha and her best friend forever, Laura, fought with the neighborhood kids-I was setting up a web site and establishing my reputation as a writer.

Nutcracker Publishing Company celebrates its 13^th anniversary this October. I have decided it will be my last year. My husband says, and it is true, I am always excited to leave a place behind and venture on to something new, but I still cry when I leave.

In the blogs that follow this one, besides sharing what is going on these days, I thought I would reminisce about the things that happened along the way- the people, places, and even world events that have made it interesting.

Like Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Toperzer!

September 14, 2013
Congratulations! 

Andrew's wedding was quite the party!

At the John Locke Foundation discussing Nuclear Literacy for Elementary Students

It was my pleasure to speak at the John Locke Foundation's Shaftesbury Society Luncheon.  I have to admit, I was nervous in front of this nonprofit think tank audience of esteemed movers and shakers.  

My presentation was titled,  Lighting up Minds and Radiating Brilliance: Nuclear Literacy for Elementary Students. 

       Click on the arrow above to view my presentation.

I had nothing to be nervous about as my audience, and the JLF staff, could not have been more charming or supportive when it comes to educating our children about nuclear power plants.

Published on Apr 15, 2013

Amelia Frahm, author of "Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Plant Really Works," discusses the challenge of boosting nuclear literacy among elementary school students. Frahm offered these comments during an April 15, 2013, speech to the John Locke Foundation's Shaftesbury Society. Video courtesy of CarolinaJournal.tv. Watch full-length presentations of JLF presentations here: http://www.johnlocke.org/events/video...

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  News & Politics
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The Color of Advocacy

There is a  line in the movie Steel Magnolias where Shelby says "my colors are blush and bashful."  Whereas her mother says "her colors are pink and pink!"

Your colors are neither, you are not an expert

I understand Shelby's exasperation.  I feel it toward myself as I am often torn between the colorful topics of cancer and nuclear power. Two distinct topics that I have written children's picture books about.

With my writer's imagination I hear Shelby saying in her Southern accent,  "your colors are breast cancer awareness pink and nuclear advocacy green ."  To which her mother admonishes , "your colors are neither, you are a children's book writer not an expert."

Which is why I am always, amazed, mystified, and extremely honored when, bona fide advocates and experts  of breast cancer awareness and nuclear energy are appreciative of what I do and include me in their initiatives.  

Last September when my "baby" left for college. I left my empty nest in North Carolina to hide out in an apartment in Alabama where my husband works.  Life as I had known it was over, and I was feeling sorry for myself, when I received a call from Christine Andrade, a woman I had never met.  

Christine is the Corporate Sponsorship Manager for the NC Triangle Susan G. Komen Foundation. She called to tell me that she had nominated me for 2012 Maureen Thomas Jordan Spirit of Survivorship Award.  

I was moved, flattered, and  astonished to discover someone had nominated me, and that someone was affiliated with the Susan G. Komen Foundation!  A foundation synonymous with breast cancer pink, but for me pink is synonymous with learning to embrace change. 

In  January I was contacted by John Shanahan, author of the Shanahan Energy Letter and  the founder of Go Nuclear! Inc., regarding my nuclear education programs and children's book about nuclear power.  He appreciated  that I had done both a children's book about cancer and one about nuclear power plants.  As he explained, anti-nuclear advocacy had  not just tarnished the clean green hue of nuclear power plants, but  also nuclear medicine and treatments that benefit cancer patients.

Go Nuclear! is a non-profit global initiative whose mission is to inform and educate our youth and young professionals about nuclear energy and nuclear medicine in the hopes they will pay it forward. John wanted two more advisers to represent the United States and asked if I was interested. 

He was asking me to consider having my name listed amongst the real world equivalent of the PhD-ed  IQ's featured on The Big Bang Theory. Not much for me to consider, of course I was interested!

Along with  flattered, I usually feel overwhelmed and out of my league most the time. It is humbling to be able to call these amazing, intelligent, courageous, colorful advocates my colleagues. 

Like Artist Suzanne Hobbs Baker, Executive Director of PopAtomic Studios which established The Nuclear Literacy Project. This February she  packed up her art supplies and headed across the ocean to explore the European nuclear industry.  Along the way she is blogging about her adventures in Diary of A Nuclear Tourist. 

The color of advocacy is as varied as Suzy's paints, but one thing is certain, coward yellow is not the signature color of any of my colleagues.

Tis the season, so don't get caught with coal in your stocking!   Santa lights his Christmas lights with Nuclear Power. 

Ho Ho Ho... 

Nutcracker Publishing Company

Pink Pumpkins: How My Children Celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Once upon a time a long time ago, (my daughter used to insist all stories must begin like this) there was no Tickles Tabitha character.  Pumpkins were orange and talking to young children about cancer was more frightening then a Halloween without candy.

Then I was diagnosed with breast cancer and October has not been the same since. At our house it became Pink Pumpkin Month and I spent it promoting cancer awareness and marketing Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy, my children’s picture book about cancer.

My kids did not just pick out and carve up traditional orange pumpkins. We were purchasing cans of hot pink spray paint, dollar store trick or treat sacks we filled with a pink ribbon craft activity, and making scarecrow hats that looked like Tickles Tabitha.

One year our kitchen was the laboratory where a giant plastic pumpkin head was padded, molded, and turned into a larger than life-sized Tickles Tabitha’s head.  The top section of the Tickles Tabitha costume character my children volunteered to dress up as (I'm doing what my kids call my evil laugh here) and that helped introduced my cancer awareness school program.   

I was reflecting on all that has changed during my recent appearance at the Barnes & Noble Walk With Sally Book Fair.  When my own children were small, talking to them about my cancer raised eyebrows and talking to other peoples children about it was unimaginable. 

So much has changed and much of it due to October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Today cans of pink spray paint are not necessary, you can  purchase pink pumpkin jack-o lanterns at the local super market. 

It's a good thing, since the kids that helped me are now young adults and what I recall as fond memories of Octobers past are now reasons for my son Jordan to complain about his childhood, and affirmations as to why his sister, the "real" Tabitha, graduated summa cum laude with a psych degree. According to the two of them, it's going to come in handy! 

Happy Pink Pumpkin Month!

Here we are before Jordan left for college...

...and here's Jordan now.

 Probably due to inhaling that pink spray paint.

Celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Don't Get Too Comfortable!

Amelia Frahm, Author
Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous  Mommy

One thing about breast cancer is you can never get too comfortable. I kicked off October with a trip to the doctor's office. A bug had flown into my ear and I wanted to make sure it was out.  All of it!

My doctor assured me the bug was long gone and nothing to worry about, but when I asked her to take a look at a lump near a lymph node she immediately made me an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat Specialist.               

                                              

After the ENT guy examined my nodes, mentioned scheduling a full body cat scan, vaporized my perpetual hunger, and told me that he felt better about the one node because the one on the other side was about the same size,  I directed him to the node I was worried about.

As it turned out that node was not a lymph node, but an enlarged cyst.  If it gets infected or any larger it will need to be removed, he told me. Or he could go ahead and  remove it  "NOW"  and prevent me a possible return trip.  

I thought about it for a nano second.  What I thought was, unless he put me under and combined a cosmetic procedure with that needle and knife he would be wielding, I would take my chances. 

So far my odds have been pretty good, at least when it comes to breast cancer.  Eighteen years of remission  and counting...   Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  

Sharing my story with  young fans at the
B&N  Walk With Sally Book Fair in  Manhattan Beach, CA.

Walk with Sally's   

Barnes & Noble Bookfair

      The Literary Showcase, Sept. 1, 2012.

Listen to internet radio with TheMasterCommunicator on Blog Talk Radio

 Helping Children Feel Smart!

Kieran 

"My daughter Kieran said reading your book made her feel smart!" The child within me wanted to simultaneously jump for joy and break into tears. 
However, since the adult me was sitting at a coffee shop in Victoria, Texas, meeting Kathleen Grones, a reporter for the Victoria Advocate, I squelched that notion and went on pretending to be the grown-up author she was supposed to be interviewing.


Kieran's comment resonated in me in a way that only an adult who was made to feel "not smart” as a child would understand. As a five year old first grade student I was made to feel dumb by a teacher.  Her opinion labeled me in my own mind, and in the minds of other children and teachers, and shaded my entire school experience. 

It was not until college that I realized I was not a dunce. My first clue came in the mail. It was an acceptance letter to the University of Florida, from which I graduated with a PR degree. Not bad for a girl whose first grade teacher assigned her a "D" in citizenship, and who was placed in the slow reading group.

  Suzy Hobbs Baker,Executive Director of
        PopAtomic Studios, the parent organization
for the Nuclear Literacy Project. 

Recently, I received an e-mail from Suzanne Hobbs Baker, Executive Director at PopAtomic Studios, informing me that Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant ReallyWorks! had been listed as recommended reading on the premier posting of the Nuclear Literacy Project's website. Needless to say, it felt good.

There was the so-called "dumb" girl's book right alongside books written by some really smart authors and nuclear experts, including Gwyneth Cravens' The Power to Save the World, and Terrestrial Energy by William Tucker.  

Although being victimized by education bullies did not make my life easy, it has made life interesting and infused a passion within me that might not otherwise exist.

This is why I have a deep appreciation for professionals and educators who provide information in a format that even us "dummies" will understand.

That is what the folks at the Nuclear Literacy Project are doing. This past year, the nuclear industry took the heat for the devastation and destruction caused by horrible natural events that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. 

After the incident, anything nuclear - including my children's book - became an easy target for anti-nuclear bullies predicting doom and assigning blame.

My Facebook page was bombarded with photos and comments intended to make me appear irresponsible for writing a children's book on nuclear power. Once again, I felt like that first grade child who had received a "D" in citizenship, until members of the Nuclear Literacy Project came to my rescue.

The organization is composed of a diverse group of thinkers from a variety of backgrounds who recognize the gaps in nuclear education and are striving to bridge them.

They shared accurate and factual information on my Facebook pages that helped distinguish fact from fiction and they did it in a way that my non-technical audience could understand. That is the genius of the Nuclear Literacy Project. It strives to provide education without humiliation or condemnation.  It is with much admiration and appreciation for the Nuclear Literacy Project that I say thank you for what you are doing and congratulations on your website:  Nuclearliteracy.org. 


May you continue to make children of all ages feel smart!

The Nutcracker Publishing Company is pleased to be associated with The Nuclear Literacy Project and would like to thank them for supporting our efforts to educate young children about nuclear power plants. To learn more about The Nuclear Literacy Project and their history of successful outreach please go to Nutcracker Publishing Company/The Nuclear Literacy Project.

Nuclear Literacy for Dumb People

With Neill Holmes at the Crabtree Valley Marriott in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I was guest speaker for the Crabtree Rotary.

My presentation was titled: Nuclear Literacy for Dumb People. I talked about nuclear literacy and gave them a preview of my elementary school program.

There were NO dumb people in my audience, instead I was surrounded by one of the friendliest and most intelligent groups I have had the pleasure of meeting.

Taking Nuclear Power on the Road to South Alabama

My parent's backyard. 

Below are highlights of my author road trip to South Alabama.  I visited schools in Baldwin County and Escambia County, Alabama.  I grew up across the state line in Escambia County, Florida, on a farm in the Walnut Hill community.  So when I was not visiting schools, I got to visit family and childhood friends I have not seen in years. The thing I love about Walnut Hill is the people who always welcome me back, like it was only yesterday, and not 30 years ago since I moved away.  

My first school was Daphne East Elementary, not to be confused with Daphne Elementary.  Daphne, Alabama is a beautiful town near the Gulf Coast, which meant I skipped the school cafeteria food and opted for Gulf Coast seafood.

 Daphne East Elementary students and media specialist Rhonda Campbell, who set up my visit and made sure it went without a hitch. I spoke to approximately 700 students and their teachers.

The winner of our Chubby door prize was Miss Jennifer Nelson's 4th grade class.  Miss Nelson was out that day and I'm pictured with Ms Linda McCann.



The next day I visited Daphne Elementary.  I'm pictured with their librarian, Mrs. Elizabeth Davis.











I think the entire school turned out. I'll always remember this visit as the reason I finally purchased my own set of speakers for my laptop! I had difficulty using their equipment and could not get the audio to broadcast for my video. Daphne Elementary thought me receiving a science and technology award was hilarious.

More about my visits to Baldwin County Schools can be found here: Daphne Kids Power Up: Author teaches about nuclear power, fear of the unknown. Thank you Jessica Jones for including my story.




I completed my first week of author presentations visiting Escambia Academy in Canoe, Alabama. It is a small private school that still goes K-12th grade.  It is also where my brother John Solomon graduated high school.

The kids were excited to have an author visit and each class asked to have their photo taken with me.  I shared both of my books including Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy.  Sadly, it's a topic the children were familiar with.





I owe a debt of gratitude to Tri City Ledger reporter Janet Little Cooper. Despite the hectic schedule of a news reporter, she attended my presentation at Escambia Academy.  You can find her article on my FB page here: EA students learn about nuclear power.

Not all my time was spent doing author school visits, and for the first time in at least 25 years I got to enjoy spending Mother's Day with my mother.

Amelia Solomon Frahm and her mother, Amelia Patricia Solomon.

 The last school I visited was W.J. Carroll Intermediate where I spoke back-to-back to three classes of 150 students.  These were older kids who were looking forward to the end of the year in about six days, yet they were attentive and interested in nuclear power and writing.

Children today learn very little about nuclear power in school which perhaps explains why none of the sixth graders thought my book was too juvenile.

One young man told me he was already working on his own book!

I am back home, alone with my laptop.  It's a beautiful day in North Carolina, but I am missing you Alabama people!

Don't Let the Dog Out!

Author Amelia Frahm with Gloria Cooper on WTZT-11, Athens, Alabama.

On my way to South Alabama, where I have several author school visits scheduled, by way of North Alabama, where my husband Randy works full-time and lives part-time.  Randy and I have a commuter marriage. A 3-M plant in Decatur, Alabama has been his work base for the past six years and he commutes between his job there and our home in North Carolina. 

Now that our kids are grown, I join him whenever possible.  It was during one of my visits that I discovered a" local and loving it" show called Cooper & Company that airs on WTZT -11 in Athen's, Alabama.  ZTV-11 as it's known is owned, operated, hosted, and produced by Gloria and Jamie Cooper. 

Although Gloria interviewed me, she and her husband Jamie, remembered by many as the Country Rover, could and should write their own book.  

Zoro & Gloria Cooper

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being a guest on ZTV-11,  meeting the Cooper's, their staff, and their dog! 

Anyone watching the show heard Jamie yell, "don't let the dog out!" He was talking to me!  When I opened the door to enter the station I was met by  Zoro.   

As always, it's the dogs I meet that make my author road trips most interesting!

Please let us know how you like "Nuclear Power - How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works" by writing a review on askDavid.com