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Sunshot by Michael Hall — Janice Barnes, of Hartwell, went through a potentially life threatening condition and emerged a more positive person with an upbeat outlook on life.
If you ever need some cheering up, you need to talk to Janice Barnes.
It takes about five seconds worth of conversation to feel the joy she conveys. If you don’t get it from the conversation, just wait till she laughs. It’s infectious.
Barnes, 73, has always been a positive person, but a life-threatening liver condition 16 years ago resulted in an even more positive, upbeat attitude.
“They thought I was going to have to have a liver transplant,” Barnes said, followed by her signature laugh she described as wicked-witch style.
But make no mistake, there is no wickedness in Barnes. She has too much joy to give.
That positive attitude helped her through test after test, appointment after appointment and a trip to Charlston, S.C. to figure out a prognosis for her liver condition. In the end, there was good news, Barnes would be able to manage the condition with medicine, meaning the life she loves could go on.
“That’s why I walk around smiling all the time,” Barnes said.
Her medical journey was challenging and she admits it took her to some dark places at times. She emerged with a new outlook on life.
“You think I’m not going to be walking around grinning all the time,” Barnes said. “People tell me, ‘you’re always smiling.’ I’m just glad to be here.”
She knows other people who have faced serious liver issues, and they didn’t make it. That puts things in perspective for her.
“I could have been gone,” Barnes said.
Today, she doesn’t meet strangers. She has always been a talkative person, ready and willing to make friends wherever she goes. That is now even more important to her.
“I try to be nice to everybody, I guess just because I appreciate life so much,” Barnes said. “I try to be a light for somebody. I don’t want to be a grouch.”
She has been told she is that light at times. Some people like to talk with her because they say they feel better after the conversation.
“I don’t meet a stranger,” Barnes said.
She graduated from the Hart County Training School in 1964. It was a different time, one that could have fostered bitterness. Instead, Barnes said she and her classmates appreciated their education and made the most of what they had earned.
Barnes went to Atlanta and studied to be a typist, but the city was more than for what she had bargained.
“I didn’t like Atlanta. It was too big. And that was in the 60s,” she said. “But I said, ‘no.’ I’m a small-town girl.”
The move was the right one for her. Barnes worked for 27 years as a presser at the Hartwell Co., then for eight years for Autozone in Lavonia before retiring.
Today she regularly attends Flat Rock CME church and cooks every Sunday for her family. That family includes cousins, aunts and siblings living in Hart and Elbert counties. The regular Sunday dinners are a tradition that keep her busy and surrounded by her loved ones, her son, daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“You’d think it’s a family reunion when we come together, but it’s just Sunday,” Barnes said with her signature laugh to punctuate the statement.
She entertains herself by following her beloved Atlanta Braves, a team she is looking forward to being back on the field later this month for a pandemic-shortened season. Barnes will be cheering them on through all 60 games they are scheduled to play this season.
“I think the Braves will do pretty good,” she said. “I know so. You’ve got to stay positive.”