Why my writing career didn't take off...

When I was in Grades 1-3 my teacher thought I was a really great writer.  I remember the librarian (my great-aunt) used to ask me if I was going to be an author when I grew up.  I promptly informed her I was going to be a cowgirl.  (Since my dad dashed my dream of being a cowboy when I was three years old, I had reset my parameters to being a cowgirl...) 
One of my stories was about two caterpillars and I remember talking to some lady from somewhere who wanted to make it into a children's book.  Yeah, that never happened.  Another of my stories was published in the "big city" newspaper.  The other day I found the original clip in some papers that my loving mother kept all these years.  A little background on this story:  my teacher had written a long list of words on the chalkboard and we were supposed to use some of them in a creative writing exercise.  Well, I went the extra mile and used all of them.  Every single one.  See if you can guess which words were written on the chalkboard, heh heh.  Also be sure to read the editor's note at the bottom of the page.  I seriously don't remember my story having anything to do with the number of children my mom had, but I guess someone else did.  I guess you could say I'm a published author, but you could also say "if that was her best work, it's no wonder I've never heard of her."