A BIT ABOUT ME....

About me: I am the child of 2 parents who were in the military. My father installed electronics components in Ballistic missiles in the late 60's. Remember the cold war? The "missile silos"? And Cheyenne Mountain. My father was involved in all that. We moved so many times most of my childhood is a blur. We lived in 26 states between the time I was born and age 12. We did spend 2 yrs in Alaska and 3 yrs in Kansas outside of KC. Then my father was recruited to install communications equipment in Viet Nam when the war escalated. That is when my mother, brother & I moved to the small town of Scotia, NY and in with my Grandparent's. That was the best year of my life as my father had horrible temper and would belt my brother & I for the pettiest things & he had been sexually abusing me since I was about 3-4 yrs old. It's hard for me to remember...a self preservation mechanism I suppose. In order to stay away from him I was always taking lessons: Ballet, Baton, Jazz, Modern Dance. And I was always at the theater or church. *No worries now though. He died of long Cancer 20 yrs ago and psychologically I've been for counseling and been told I'm fine. And I feel fine. It happened, it's over.

I was married young and divorced young. My kids were 3 and 1 when I decided to kick his drug seeking/abusive a** out. I had almost miscarried my daughter while I was pregnant after being rammed into a wall. His favorite saying while he had me in a head lock, pulling me backwards, with his knee in my lower back was "I can hurt you & hurt you bad without leaving a mark". I had had back surgery a f couple yrs earlier and been hospitalized a couple times since with back problems while pregnant. So it was my weak spot. Besides I was way too young not to experience GOOD SEX.

My son was diagnosed with ADHD/LD/Central Auditory Deficit/Dyslexia/ OCD. Both kids had asthma. My son's trigger's are allergies. My daughter's are when she catches a cold or Strep throat. So we spent many sleepless nights together.

I never thought about it before but I was one active girl back then. I had gone to nursing school so I worked full-time as an Obstetrical nurse, then into Pediatrics and Neonatal Special Care (NICU and Labor and Delivery of high risk babies). I took night courses in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies at the State University of NY at Albany. Mostly for my son's sake, but also for work. And later when the kids were in their early teens I went back to college to get a higher degree.

I was also a dancer taking ballet and would travel to NYC for dancing gigs off Broadway and in the 80's, a couple of videos you'd see on MTV. As I grew older I did Country/Ballroom/Salsa. And worked at Disney World at the Wild Horse Saloon, doing choreography and teaching dance after the kids & I moved to Florida. Dancing was a passion a couldn't get out of my blood. Still can't.

Way back in the early 80's I had been diagnosed with Arthritic Lupus and Migraine/Cluster Headaches. The arthritis controlled with medications. The cluster headaches not. At age 42 I was having trouble sleeping & was WAking up several times a night. Then one day was having some heart flip-flops, the next jaw pain, that next shoulder pain. I was admitted into the hospital where I underwent a week's worth of test's. The problem; my sleeping heart rate was 30 because of Sick Sinus Syndrome and AV node Dysfunction. Later...Atrial Fib. The "cure"... a pacemaker and medication.

In 2000 I was declared unable to work any longer. The main diagnoses were Arthritic Lupus/ Fibromyalgia/ Cluster headaches and migraines/ Neuropathy of hands and legs. I do pick up some little jobs here en there. Last year I made meals for a blind man (DOBS), paper work for a hurricane inspector, and on-call as an Assistant Mid-wife.

Boy this entry needs a good shot of happiness. those of you that know me know that I'm not so negative. And some of you know bits and pieces of this.

Oh let's see. I moved to Florida fifteen yrs ago for my health having lived in the Albany/Schenectady/ Troy area and also Lake George/Glens Falls area of New York. I was working as a dialysis nurse by day, and doing private duty nursing with infants with heart problems and Genetic defects on weekends. I had been offered a job in Tampa developing and Acute Dialysis program for two of Tampa's Hospitals. From that position I was hired by Vivra/Gambro and put in an Administrative position where I contracted 10 hospitals and had 10 nurses to manage in Pinellas county.

That's my little life in a nutshell. Politically-I'm Independent. I'm a thinker, reader, nurturer. I mother. I mother animals, plants, new mothers. It's my thing. I am a child of the Earth. Spiritually-I'd be described as an Independent Eclectic Wiccan.

Now...I am happily single. I occasionally date. My heart still dances. My kids are grown. My daughter lives in Chicago with her husband and my son lives in a nearby town here in Florida and visits his momma at least once a week. I live in and RV Park in Palm Harbor and have a Maltese named Jasmine (Jazzy) and a former feral kitten that was found under a trailer named Mau'i. I enjoy my computer time, PSP and working with animation, walking nightly with Jazzy and Maui to the beach, concerts on the beach, some dancing, especially West Coast Swing, Cha, Salsa.

I take "On-Call" at a local Birthing Center every other weekend where I assist delivering babies. It's good.