I was born, Camille Consetta Connell on the island of Jamaica. I met David Goldman who was from Chicago in 1984. We were married in August of '86. Fifteen months later, I arrived in the United States with our three month old baby girl, Branda-Lee. About seven years later, we had Caleb, and six years after that, our third child, Samuel, who was born at home with the help of a traditional midwife. That was my best birthing experience, ever.

I started out writing songs and took enough piano lessons to be able to accompany myself. With the encouragement of my friend Susan Heath, who is an award winning poet, I began writing poetry. One of my poems can be found on poetry.com> It is entitled, "Overgrown Things." I love to write informative articles and Helium has given me the opportunity to present my work to millions of readers.

I see myself as a member of the "Backwards Generation," a phrase I coined to represent people like myself who tend to do things a bit in reverse. For example, I married young and dedicated myself to home and family. I even home-schooled my two oldest children for a number of years. Now, however, I am in school, working towards a degree in psychology. (By the way, I am a member of Phi Theta Kappa).

Writing gives me the opportunity to broaden my horizons and explore my creativity. Self-taught in many areas, I have a desire not only for gaining knowledge, but also for the opportunity to impart it. I very much appreciate being able to do so on Helium.

My passion is ...

People (That's why I am a psych major). . . Reading and writing along with an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

I know too much about ...

Nothing! Which is why I love to learn.

My parents always told me ...

"You have have the right stuff, Baby!" - Not exactly in those words, but close enough.

My childhood ambition ...

Be different - stand out from the crowd. I always tended to dance to the beat of a different drummer.

My favorite memory ...

The first time I saw someone skiing. I thought he was walking on water like Jesus. I was only 5. I lived in a small village in Jamaica with not television and very little contact with the outside world, and he was a white man!

Why I write ...

Writing is my way of expressing creativity.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

I read romances, hardly ever watch television, almost never go to the movies, and love to listen to the Reggae sounds of Chassidic Jew, Matisyahu.

My first job ...

Housekeeping at the local YMCA. It lasted about 6 months.

My best moment ...

Seeing my babies for the first time - wow! Absolutely incredible.

My inspiration ...

God, the Bible, my parents, my children, my friend Susan Heath who survived breast cancer and pursued and completed two Bachelor's degrees in Education and English while undergoing chemo-therapy. . . Consider this a very abbreviated list.

Parenting & Pregnancy > Teen Challenges How to deal with early-onset puberty

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This is my story, torn from the pages of my life. I had eaten the same food, drank the same water, breathed the same air as my peers, but apparently with different results. I was not even quite seven years old, when the young sapling that I was, began to bud. Nature's trick threw my mother into a tizzy, wondering what could have sparked such early signs of puberty, and I was left to figure out life with all its changes and nuances, almost on my own. Feeling forced to defend myself for experiencing what was a natural process, I gleaned accidental knowledge from unlikely sources while flou...

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