: About Me

On the cusp of 60 years on this planet, I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother and teacher of young minds. I am uniquely positioned, as many of my generation between caring for my elderly parent and working to support my family. Writing for me is breathing and yet the only outlets currently available until I found Helium were emails to friends. Frustratingly, I am more articulate on paper than in verbal conversation. The delete button is an amazing tool. Did I just say that!

Having passed life's midpoint, I have a pool of life experiences that color who I am and what I believe: the death of my daughter, only 35-years-old; my father's illness and passing, my husband's chronic illness, adult children struggling to make a living in a complex world and still living at home, and the constant pain of arthritis that dogs me.

Some would say I am a glass half empty sort of gal, but I don't think that takes into account the survival instincts and persistence that drive me. Sensitive to the nuances around me, I feel the need for a filter for my head and heart, one that is not riddled with holes.

Someone said, "Life is what happens to you while your making other choices." The ability to adapt to what happens, to survive it to embrace it as part of who you are that to me is the secret to Life.

Education > Adult Education Returning to school when middle-aged

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I had a what many would consider a successful career. I was the Director of Public Relations for a small Visitor and Convention Bureau, meeting with event planners, writing travel and destination pieces that were published globally and posting 3 million in free press annually, but because I did not have a college degree I earned thousands less than my less successful and younger counterparts. I left that career for work as a secretary at a small private school, but I felt dissatisfied, incomplete. Work as a substitute teacher in the public school system was out of my grasp because, once ag...

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