My real name is not Paula Scott. This is Paula and Scott. Two kids who fell in love as teenagers and miraculously are still together three decades later. I say miraculous because we’ve been through a lot, and yet I love this man so much. My husband is my great romance. I’m so grateful God has kept us all these years. Scott runs my website and helps me out of countless computer messes. He really is the other half of this author gig. It’s a wonder I can even write a book. I can barely run my laptop. But I can pick peaches with the best of them. Come May, Scott and I turn into farmers and harvest our stone fruit all summer long. When autumn arrives, I sit down to write again, and Scott returns to teaching junior highers.
This is our crew. Seven kids and our two amazing sons-in-law. I confess, I look at this photo and think where did all these kids come from? Twenty years separate our oldest from our youngest. We call this our two families. The first three we had in our twenties, then waited five years and had four more boys in eight years. For a decade, I could hardly remember my name, I was so exhausted. Things are getting fun now. Our four youngest boys still live at home and work in the orchard with us. Lucky boys! Of course, they don’t think they are lucky. Their friends get summers off, while they can’t wait to return to school where life is air-conditioned. When our oldest son joined the military, he said boot camp was easy after growing up working for Opa (my dad) on the farm.
Farming has been in my family forever. Okay, not forever, but I’m a fifth-generation California farmer. I was a Future Farmers of America sweetheart and raised hogs in high school. In 4-H, I showed dogs, bunnies, horses, and eventually pigs. I learned to sew as well, but was never good at stuff that required patience. Truth is, I’m a tomboy. I left the University Nevada-Reno two classes short of graduation because I’d just gotten married and wanted to be a wife more than I wanted an English degree. Plus, I didn’t think I needed a diploma to become a writer. Oh, the arrogance of youth.
Since I was ten years old, I’ve dreamed of becoming an author. I love stories. I’ve written for newspapers, magazines, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and Guideposts books. I now have four novels on Amazon.
The hardest things in life have been the best things. All seven of my pregnancies were hard, but this gave us beautiful babies. Working on our farm is hard, but it has granted the perspective that life really can and should be a labor of love. Every year, after harvest, my grandpa, a peach farmer, used to say the same thing, “We can live again!”
Our whole family gathered together to get my grandparents’ peaches to the cannery come summertime. When it was finished in late August, my grandparents took us to a fancy dinner. Oh, how I loved those fancy harvest dinners, but more than that, I loved my family. Gathering at the table with my loved ones when the harvest was over was my favorite thing.
I never thought I’d end up a farmer. But here I am. I’m so happy to be a story-teller too. Thank you for taking the time to find out more about us. Wishing you a harvest of faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.
