"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." —Abraham Lincoln

I'm the real thing. And I’ve never been wealthy, so I've had to work a lot of jobs over the years as I raised our children and worked with my husband in our water conditioning business.

Lately, I’ve been receiving a lot of negative mailers about me from my opponent who has had only one career: politics.

Here's the one he sent of me milking a Jersey cow named Rennaissance at Seven Stars Farm in Kimberton; it's my favorite picture, taken by my son-in-law. My mom and dad were dairy farmers, so I’m framing that one. (Full story)

However, another mailer arrived claiming that I have a “secret,” that I “worked for one of the largest land development companies in the country.” Gee, I didn’t know when I took that $8 an hour part-time job in the mid-80s to help make ends meet that it would come back to “haunt” me in October 2008. If you want the full details, please call me. I'd be happy to share.

Perhaps, I better confess now that I also worked at the Exton Howard Johnson’s as a waitress when I was 15. I didn’t last long because, yes, I was a lousy waitress.

My first day on the job, I spilled several glasses of water on a family who had come by for breakfast after church. I apologized profusely; they left me a tip.

Some people are forgiving.

And experience, good or bad, builds character.

"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built." —Eleanor Roosevelt