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Meet Gale!
Every Monday, TriangleMom2Mom features a local mom. If you'd like to be featured or know somebody we should feature, let me know.
Today, we hear from Gale M. Wilkins.
Mom2Mom: Tell us about yourself.
Gale: I have been married for thirty years to my husband, Carl, and am the mother of two children, one
adult daughter and nearly sixteen (July birthday) year old son . Our daughter and husband gave us a wonderful grandson who we see weekly. Our favorite words to hear during his visit are grandma, granddaddy and Uncle C.L. Carl and I met through mutual friends while we were in college in Raleigh. We are both from large families and for twenty five years we have been intimately involved with children in some pastoral capacity through our church.
Last year Family Education Initiative, which is our non-profit, collaborated with UNC television on a teen dating violence and bullying project. This project was piloted in Cumberland County Public Schools. I taught at both middle and high schools and a local university freshman class. Recently we partnered with the Garner Road YMCA for a Boys’ Toys Tour to address the crisis of males who are at risk of dropping out of high school. The Boys’ Toys Tour is an exotic and luxury car show targeted toward African-American males in high school. The Tour features interactive motivational sessions specifically developed to engage students in a dialogue with the car owners. The discussions center around strategies related to the students achieving success. You can visit my blog Family Education Initiative.
Mom2Mom: What's your favorite family place in the Triangle?
Gale: My favorite family place is our kitchen in our home. Our daughter, son-in-law, grandson, family and friends frequent our dinner table. My husband loves the cooking channel so he tests different recipes on us. If not in our home our daughter and son-in-law will order take-out and we eat and watch a movie at their home.
When I have free time I enjoy walking with my husband in downtown Raleigh on evenings and weekends when everyone has left/gone for the evening. We enjoy the local architecture, viewing new buildings and businesses and seeing how things have changed in the 34 years since we have lived here. During our early years, my husband and I worked downtown. We enjoy seeing the current transformation and revival of Fayetteville Street.
Mom2Mom: What is your favorite place for yourself in the Triangle?
Gale: Actually it is a tie for my favorite place in the Triangle. If I am not getting a deep tissue massage at a local spa, my next favorite place is Borders Books next to our home. Often, I gather my reading glasses and walk to the bookstore. Once I settle down to read ,I’ll grab a mocha coffee with caramel, my sister’s favorite, and read various books and magazines. I am lost in reading for hours. I’ve met several acquaintances there whom I haven’t seen in quite some time. You’d be amazed at how much a gathering place the local bookstore has become.
Mom2Mom: What's your favorite ritual with your kids?
Gale: Our son CL is special to us. So picking him up from school and listening to him give details about his day is refreshing. He isn’t old enough yet to drive so getting him to lacrosse practice, skateboard parks, or hanging out with friends is my job. One of our rituals if we have had a difficult week is to rent a funny movie. Laughter is good for the soul!
Mom2Mom: What did you have last night for dinner. Can you share the recipe?
Gale: Last night’s dinner was a Father’s Day meal. C.L. and I prepared my husband’s favorites. C.L., like his father, loves to get recipes off the Internet. So we had marinated grilled tilapia, shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce, grilled sweet potatoes, grilled corn on the cob, Caesar salad, macaroni and cheese, cornbread muffins, and apple pie with Breyer’s vanilla ice cream. There were a few items I forgot to prepare. Oh! Did I mention that I don’t like to cook?
Mom2Mom: What's your guilty pleasure?
Gale: When afforded the luxury of leaving our son with our daughter and son-in-law, Carl and I go out of town and spend a night or two. We walk around town, stay up late, have romantic meals, read and watch TV or a movie.
Check out our other daily themes at TriangleMom2Mom:
MONDAY: Meet!
TUESDAY: Ask!
WEDNESDAY: Eat!
THURSDAY: Play!
FRIDAY: Out!
WEEKEND: Relax!
Sarah Lindenfeld Hall
Sarah is in charge of content for TriangleMom2Mom.com and writes about family-friendly events, local moms groups and other topics for the site.
She lives in Raleigh with her
husband and three-year-old daughter. Sarah has written for newspapers
since she was a teenager living in snowy Central New York. After
graduating from the University of Virginia, she traipsed a bit around
Europe and Mount Airy, N.C., before settling down in the Triangle. She
moved here in 1999 to take a job with The News & Observer. She once aspired to play
flute professionally. More recently, her daughter started crying when
she played it.
Read more about:
Every Monday, TriangleMom2Mom features a local mom. If you'd like to be featured or know somebody we should feature, let me know.
Today, we hear from Gale M. Wilkins.
Mom2Mom: Tell us about yourself.
Gale: I have been married for thirty years to my husband, Carl, and am the mother of two children, one adult daughter and nearly sixteen (July birthday) year old son . Our daughter and husband gave us a wonderful grandson who we see weekly. Our favorite words to hear during his visit are grandma, granddaddy and Uncle C.L. Carl and I met through mutual friends while we were in college in Raleigh. We are both from large families and for twenty five years we have been intimately involved with children in some pastoral capacity through our church.
Last year Family Education Initiative, which is our non-profit, collaborated with UNC television on a teen dating violence and bullying project. This project was piloted in Cumberland County Public Schools. I taught at both middle and high schools and a local university freshman class. Recently we partnered with the Garner Road YMCA for a Boys’ Toys Tour to address the crisis of males who are at risk of dropping out of high school. The Boys’ Toys Tour is an exotic and luxury car show targeted toward African-American males in high school. The Tour features interactive motivational sessions specifically developed to engage students in a dialogue with the car owners. The discussions center around strategies related to the students achieving success. You can visit my blog Family Education Initiative.
Mom2Mom: What's your favorite family place in the Triangle?
Gale: My favorite family place is our kitchen in our home. Our daughter, son-in-law, grandson, family and friends frequent our dinner table. My husband loves the cooking channel so he tests different recipes on us. If not in our home our daughter and son-in-law will order take-out and we eat and watch a movie at their home.
When I have free time I enjoy walking with my husband in downtown Raleigh on evenings and weekends when everyone has left/gone for the evening. We enjoy the local architecture, viewing new buildings and businesses and seeing how things have changed in the 34 years since we have lived here. During our early years, my husband and I worked downtown. We enjoy seeing the current transformation and revival of Fayetteville Street.
Mom2Mom: What is your favorite place for yourself in the Triangle?
Gale: Actually it is a tie for my favorite place in the Triangle. If I am not getting a deep tissue massage at a local spa, my next favorite place is Borders Books next to our home. Often, I gather my reading glasses and walk to the bookstore. Once I settle down to read ,I’ll grab a mocha coffee with caramel, my sister’s favorite, and read various books and magazines. I am lost in reading for hours. I’ve met several acquaintances there whom I haven’t seen in quite some time. You’d be amazed at how much a gathering place the local bookstore has become.
Mom2Mom: What's your favorite ritual with your kids?
Gale: Our son CL is special to us. So picking him up from school and listening to him give details about his day is refreshing. He isn’t old enough yet to drive so getting him to lacrosse practice, skateboard parks, or hanging out with friends is my job. One of our rituals if we have had a difficult week is to rent a funny movie. Laughter is good for the soul!
Mom2Mom: What did you have last night for dinner. Can you share the recipe?
Gale: Last night’s dinner was a Father’s Day meal. C.L. and I prepared my husband’s favorites. C.L., like his father, loves to get recipes off the Internet. So we had marinated grilled tilapia, shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce, grilled sweet potatoes, grilled corn on the cob, Caesar salad, macaroni and cheese, cornbread muffins, and apple pie with Breyer’s vanilla ice cream. There were a few items I forgot to prepare. Oh! Did I mention that I don’t like to cook?
Mom2Mom: What's your guilty pleasure?
Gale: When afforded the luxury of leaving our son with our daughter and son-in-law, Carl and I go out of town and spend a night or two. We walk around town, stay up late, have romantic meals, read and watch TV or a movie.
Check out our other daily themes at TriangleMom2Mom:
MONDAY: Meet!
TUESDAY: Ask!
WEDNESDAY: Eat!
THURSDAY: Play!
FRIDAY: Out!
WEEKEND: Relax!
Sarah Lindenfeld Hall
Sarah is in charge of content for TriangleMom2Mom.com and writes about family-friendly events, local moms groups and other topics for the site.
She lives in Raleigh with her husband and three-year-old daughter. Sarah has written for newspapers since she was a teenager living in snowy Central New York. After graduating from the University of Virginia, she traipsed a bit around Europe and Mount Airy, N.C., before settling down in the Triangle. She moved here in 1999 to take a job with The News & Observer. She once aspired to play flute professionally. More recently, her daughter started crying when she played it.
Read more about:
