Agathos Dorea

“I used to run through these fields as a young girl. After our chores, my father would turn us loose and we’d all play here for hours. My sisters and I loved playing in these fields.”

Stopping to rest under her beloved Kansas sun, Virginia Blackwell removed her wide-brimmed hat and wiped her brow with her forearm. Closing her eyes, she looked toward the sky and pulled her shoulder length silver hair back with both hands.

“I’d do it all again, you know–and I wouldn’t change a thing. I guess if there’s one lesson I’ve learned in my 78 years, it’s that you can’t always do what people want you to do–you’ve got to do what you believe is the right thing. And once you’ve made your decision, then you get on with it, no second guessing and no regrets, you just do whatever you’ve got to do to make it.”

“I’m proud of the decisions I’ve made in this life–a lot of people will disagree with me but that’s their business.”

Looking off into the distance, Virginia Blackwell’s thoughts wandered back to a painful place. Not wanting to stay there long, she assertively repositioned her hat and turned toward the car. Talking more to herself than she was to me, Virginia grabbed my hand as she moved past, “For heaven’s sake, that was years ago and I am an old woman now. All of that fussing and fighting is just waste of precious time–it all works out for good in the end.”

Pregnant out of wedlock at 17, Virginia Blackwell knows the costs of following her heart. Expelled from high school, disowned by her father and turned out by her church, she raised her daughter in the face of significant opposition. With the loving support of her sisters, Virginia Blackwell is a living example that everything does work out just fine in the end.