Born
Sheldon Calhoun McDougall, female, in Atlanta, Georgia - I always
embraced the "Victory or Death" motto of the clan before learning
the meaning around age 20. I have been a 3-time N. American
fighting champion - all 5'5" and 110 lbs. of me. Sheldon, BTW,
means "in a valley by a stream". I have been attracted to
the mountains my whole life, and have a cabin in Dahlonega, Georgia
(which I found out was named by the person who's daughter I was
named after, John C. Calhoun). I am now 51 years old, but have
found so many ways to grow (literally grew an inch in the past year"
in spite of non-life-threatenening pain - mostly I have found that I
enjoy competitive sports, and learning the team dynamic has been a
challenge. I started off as Captain of a Beach Volleyball team,
including my 28 -year-old son and 2 other talented male and female
20 or 30-somethings. Leadership was no problem, but my energy could
get too intense at times.
All of
my life I have had a "knowingness", mostly very unimportant things
that helped no one. The first incident that "meant something" was
one night when I told my then-husband - "Stop, there's a child
chasing that ball." He stopped and looked at me in exasperation,
then time slowed down as we watched the ball roll into the street
with the boy right behind it....
The
next "big time" was the worst - My tall red-headed brother, whom we
nicknamed "Skullcleaver", was visiting us after Christmas to
exchange presents. I felt SO sick of heart as I could feel his
impending death. I "read him the riot act" about taking care of
himself and letting go of some stress in his life", and tried EVERY
way I knew - at least he knew that I loved him and cared enough to
try to save him - those blue eyes were most sentient. The next day
I stayed in bed all day crying, telling my family that I would never
see my brother alive again." One month later I got the call in the
middle of the night - he'd died of a massive coronary at the age of
36. I really think he wanted to go...
My
husband of 12 years is named Imperatori, which we found out goes
back to Caesar, and was a title conferred on great Emperors or
Generals of the Roman Empire. We received Email from some
Imperatoris in Australia who are all Black Belts as well.
My son
is always prepared and at his best in a crisis - most likely to
survive anything, and totally intent on doing so.
I teach
martial arts fighting and self-defense to men, women and children as
do my husband and son. My son hand-draws and colors storyboards for
Hollywood, and I design jewelry and sell it. I used to believe in
nurture over nature, mostly because I didn't want to inherit some
things nor to pass them along, but endeavored with all my heart to
teach my son the best of all that I knew.
My
parents have been to Scotland numerous times, met Lady McDougal and
her husband, and even stayed in the castle once. I have fair skin,
blond hair, and very dark green eyes = my son has fair skin, quickly
receding dark blonde hair and eyes that are either green or blue
depending. My husband has a Roman profile, dark eyes, and a
mid-tone Italian/Spanish skin.. His energy is incredibly intense as
is mine and my sons, but in a way that people respect us and trust
us to teach them to become warriors for good. Unfortunately, we
must all be ready to be warriors in this time, to learn to live by
the moon and fire, and maybe even the oral tradition. I digress...
Hope
this is valuable to someone - I have always chosen homes on top of
hills (good defense position, you know) and had a "pack of dogs" -
was SO amused to read of the famous MacDougal hounds!
