My mom passed away of lung cancer the year I came home. She was a life-long smoker. She had just retired from her job as a Director of Nurses at a hospital in the Los Angeles area. She had worked h
We were Catholic, but most of the people were Protestant. I liked going to the Baptist Easter Vacation Bible School with my friends. It was much more fun than catechism classes. My mother didn'
My mom and dad got divorced when I was in high school. I expected it, so it wasn't traumatic. They had been separated for some time. By then, my dad was severely disabled as a result of his in
I met my future husband in my French class. He was from the Congo, a former Belgian colony. He spoke French, wrote poetry (which I liked), played the guitar (which I liked), was radical in his polit
We had a Scottish Terrier named Tish. She was a housedog, meaning that she lived with us rather than in the backyard. She always slept at the bottom of my bed. When Tish died, I was devastated. Th
I went to elementary school in San Diego, California. I loved school. I loved to learn. It was great fun. On my first day, I didn't have problems like the other kids did. In fact, I think my
That summer, I worked in a factory that made water heaters (Honeywell). It was really hard work. I was on the assembly line wrapping coils around something. I had blisters on my hands, and my whole