I Am Wilshire – Paula Woodbury.
Name: Paula Woodbury;
Hometown: Tyler;
Education: BA and MA, Baylor;
Profession: Director of Camps, SMU Women’s Soccer;
Present city: Dallas
Tell us about your family.
I’m married to Jason Woodbury — we recently celebrated 25 years. We have three children who never sit still (unless they are asleep), are full of sass and keep me laughing, rolling my eyes and on my toes 24/7. The chaos is real. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I’m the baby of my nuclear family and am so lucky to now have my mom living in town and attending Wilshire. It’s a dream come true, even if it didn’t turn out exactly the way I’d imagined it.
How about your work or volunteer life.
After a lengthy career pause, I received an incredible opportunity last year to join one of my dearest friends and training partners when she was hired on as head coach of women’s soccer at SMU. I love the job and the team, and it scratches an itch I had honestly forgotten about.
What are your favorite hobbies?
Hands down, the answer is reading. If given the opportunity, I could easily waste a full day curled up with a book (just ask my family). Reading is the one activity I do where the busy-beaver portion of my brain can finally shut down and I disappear into another world.
What is your favorite place to travel?
Anywhere with mountains and rivers. The longer I live in the city, the more I realize I wasn’t made for city living. Give me wide open spaces, please.
What do you think God is up to in your life right now?
Goodness, it seems God is always full of shenanigans in my life. At the moment, I think she’s teaching me the gift of receiving. Which, for a control junkie and do-er, this is … challenging. In addition, the past year has been incredibly difficult — full of all kinds of grief and letting go. As a result, I feel very called into understanding the liminal spaces in both my life and my faith. As a 1 on the Enneagram, I’ve lived a very black and white existence thus far. Apparently, God thinks it’s high time for me to spend some time in the gray. Instead of jumping to a finite answer, I try to look at every situation and say “and also.” It’s hard, and, honestly, I don’t always love it, but I follow nonetheless. And who knows what is next? She’s a wily one, my Creator.
What’s something interesting most people wouldn’t know about you?
Nothing. I’m an embarrassingly open book, much to my family’s chagrin.
If you are interested in being featured in an upcoming I Am Wilshire article, contact Carolyn Murray