“I truly believe that if you help enough people,
you’ll never have an empty victory.”

When Carol Andrews left WGHP, Fox 8, she was a well-known, highly respected anchor. She had achieved local celebrity status yet she did what conventional wisdom declares the unthinkable – she walked away from it all. The morning after her last day on the job, she began her personal journal of self-discovery.

Carol Andrews

Sitting at the kitchen table in her new High Point home, Carol talked about this journey and where it takes her from day to day. “Desire, deep emotion stirring inside ready to explode, has always described me. The difference now is I’m better able to identify what my desires are. I want to make a difference for myself, my family and my community. When I say community, I don’t mean just my neighborhood. I’m an American and a citizen of the world and that’s my community. I think we spend too much time trying to limit our communities when, in reality, we’re so much more than a neighborhood, or a religion, or ethnicity. One of my dearest friends described me this way, ‘You are a walking contradiction of terms.’

I want to help as many people as is humanly possible along the way. That’s the reason I wanted to be an active part of organizing the Carol Andrews Summer Book Round Up. That’s also the reason I self-published my first book, The Giggle Wind.”

Journeys toward self-discovery are nuanced, frightening, but ultimately richly rewarding, exercises in introspection, revelation, forgiveness, and acceptance. Carol credits her strong belief in God and her family for shaping the woman she is today. “My parents gave me the foundation. Finding my personal relationship with God has given me the boldness to do what I am supposed to do in life. I really think that I know the truth about me now.”

Looking back five years ago and comparing what she did then with what she’s doing now, Carol declared, “What I loved, probably most of all, about Fox 8 is its commitment to the community. What I like five years later is that I’m still encouraging people to give a kid a coat, or contribute to the Fox 8 Gifts for Kids campaign or help fill a bus. It feels as natural now as it did then, it’s just not in as highly visible an arena as it once was. In addition, I get to do some other things like work with the ARC of High Point. I’ve been able to build on the career I began with Fox with groups like the Special Olympics. I still have this great love for Hunter Elementary School over in Greensboro.”

Balancing personal goals with professional ambitions often seems difficult, if not elusive, for women. “I think they’re one and the same. I love working with children, so I do my book thing – my presentations – and I include my son. I put in a lot of volunteer hours at his school. My aspiration is to allow people to have fun with books and learn something before they know it. And that goes for children’s books as well as adult’s books.”

The Freckle Fairy- cover illustrated by Idalia Canter of King, NC

This former award-winning television journalist is the author of one children’s book and a second is on the way. “My next book is entitled, The Freckle Fairy and it talks about why people of all backgrounds, colors and ethnicities have freckles. It will be illustrated by Idalia Cantor of King, NC. Her medium is oils. I’m honored and blown away – just overwhelmed –by the fact that artists of the caliber of Steve (Cozart) and Idalia want to work with me.”

Celebrity, regardless of its reach, carries its own set of social responsibilities. “I think people look at me and say, ‘if she can do it, I can do it, too.’ I still have to get dressed in the morning.

When you’re willing to be a mentor
people are more willing to take a step.”

Her advice to Journal readers, “step out on faith and be amazed at the safety net God truly is; and a game plan doesn’t hurt. What motivates me is my desire to succeed.

I close speeches with the lyrics from an old gospel song,

‘One of these days, when my work is all done, the battle’s been fought
and the victory is won, I want to hear Him say, ‘well done.’

(Then, and only then) will I be satisfied. We’re on this earth but a short time and you have to look at that word DESIRE as an acronym: ready to explode. So when you have to answer for your time on earth, and I think we all will, you hear the words, ‘well done.’ Am I perfect? No. Have I made mistakes? Yes. Will I give up? Never.”

After falling from the edge of a dune into the sugar white sand of Panama City Beach, the curious little girl thought she was hearing things when the wind carried the sound of whimsical laughter. Believing she had just found her first friend in her new home, Elizabeth searched the area for other children, but there was no one else around.

The realization that she had dirtied her Sunday clothes brought Elizabeth scrambling back up the dune and sneaking into her house, hoping her mother wouldn't notice. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast, Elizabeth's mother was very familiar with the legend of the Giggle Wind, although she had never heard it herself. Later the same day, mother and daughter set out on their own adventure to find the Giggle Wind - an adventure that would change their lives forever.

An award-winning journalist, Carol Andrews uses her passion for children and learning in creating a wonderful tale of adventure and environmental discovery - giving all of us great insight into the wonderful world of lichen.