About the Author

Ronda Friend (R. Friend) is a child at heart who has worked with children for over thirty years. As a storyteller, she has captivated hundreds of thousands of children with her music, animation, and big heart. She has directed and produced over twenty children's musicals. Ronda is the founder of Sunflower Seeds Press. As author of the "Down on Friendly Acres" series, her vision is to plant seeds of a different kind – seeds of kindness, patience, perseverance, laughter, and honesty into the lives of children.

She holds a B.A. degree in education with a minor in music. Ronda has two grown children, Jeremy and Stephanie, and lives with her husband, Bill, in Franklin, Tennessee.

Find out more about Ronda Friend and what her school presentations are all about by linking onto Sunflower Seeds Press and you can also go to www.nashspeakers.com and click Ronda Friend under the list of speakers.  If interested in booking Ronda Friend for an author visit to your school, you may contact her directly by clicking email button  and/or writing her at:

Sunflower Seeds Press
PO Box 1476
Franklin, Tennesssee 37065.

A Letter from R. Friend

Fiddlesticks and gumdrop bars! Welcome to "Down on Friendly Acres," a series based on the life of a real family - my family - the Friend family. My parents were farmers. They raised crops, livestock, and me, along with my two brothers and sister, on a farm rightly named Friendly Acres.

I was raised on that farm in the 1950s and 1960s. Times were very different. Just ask your grandparents. The words mall, computer, cell phone, and video game weren’t even in the dictionary. That’s because there weren’t any malls, computers, cell phones, or video games.

I was born on April 6, 1955. In that year there were only forty-eight states, a stamp cost three pennies, a loaf of bread cost eighteen cents, and Barbie wasn’t even "born" yet.

With two older brothers, Ronald and Duane, a younger sister, Diane, and lots of cousins, there was always some fussin’ and fightin’ going on. That’s where Grandma Brombaugh came in. On April 9, 2003, Grandma Brombaugh turned ninety-six years young. She was and still remains the "wise" one. My dad and mom, Harold and Jean Friend, were always friendly, loving, and kind - even though life wasn’t always friendly, loving, and kind to them. They both had very difficult childhoods.

My father, the youngest of eight children, recalls the heartache when his parents separated in the 1930s. Back then only a handful of marriages ended in divorce. As a fifth grader, my dad recalls clutching a tobacco corn knife in his hand as he helped load his belongings onto the neighbor’s cattle truck to move to a new home. That knife soon represented how his family was torn apart and his heart ripped in two. My mother, an only child, was in second grade when her father was accidentally electrocuted while working on a power line during a terrible thunderstorm. Mother cried herself to sleep, awaking the next morning to realize she would never be able to say goodbye to the father she had adored.

Heartbreaking moments - we all have them. For my father it was a home divided and for my mother a father gone without warning. But they both taught me it’s what you do with those heartbreaking moments that counts. My parents met, fell in love, and were determined to provide a home where there was lots of love, joy, and peace.

You may be going through a heartbreaking moment in your life. You can choose to rise above your heartache and your pain. My parents did. And that’s why I have written this series. As my Grandma Brombaugh would say, "They not only talked the talk, they walked the walk!"

So come on down on Friendly Acres with me. "We will laugh - cry - shout with jubilation - sing - dance - join the celebration. We will love - share - feel the good vibrations - down on Friendly Acres with me!" Fiddlesticks and gumdrop bars. I’ve run out of room!

Remember,
I’M A FRIEND and U R 2!
R. Friend