38 Toombs County Magazine
had completed the 10-mile run over
mountain paths with stops in between
for calisthenics many times. “When
you do something physical, you
expect to ache for a day or two, but
not weeks. After the run, I couldn’t
seem to recover. The Marines teach
you to have a ‘suck it up’ mentality,
and that’s what I did. I kept going.”
A week after the run, she could still
barely walk. Finally, she went to the
doctor. “I had a hip injury and damage
to my hip joints. But they did not
want to do surgery because I was so
young. The doctors felt scar tissue
would be worse than the pain I had as
a result of bursitis.”
Still, Samantha tried to push
through. But no matter how hard she
pushed, she knew she could not keep
up with the physical training of her
unit. “If you can’t get out there and
out run your Marines, they’re not
going to want to follow you no matter
how much knowledge you have. I was
not going to lead Marines that way.”
Finally, she was transferred over
to the legal department. The transfer
Samantha has upgraded equipment and added some gift items to her
shop as the business has grown. Her main focus is providing a place
where people can come for good coffee and conversation.