My adventuresome life has taken me many places. I grew up in Portland, Oregon and eventually found my way to Tanzania with the Peace Corps, where I fell in love not only with my village, but also with the volunteer in the next village over. After our service ended, I followed him back to the Midwest. Ron and I spent eight years in Madison, Wisconsin, where we studied and worked together in conservation, co-authored a book called Field Guide to Wisconsin Streams, and co-founded Reach Out Wisconsin, an organization that brings people together for civil political dialogue.
At some point along the way, I began to write. I had wanted to write books since before I could write, and an inner faucet turned on in my thirties. Almost of their own accord, words began spilling out of me and onto the page. I began writing a memoir, but the progress was lurching. It was first interrupted by my dad’s cancer and death, then a year later by my own new chronic illness.
Now it’s years later, and Ron and I have settled in Portland. My health has stabilized, at least for now. Ron has become a teacher. And I am still writing! Along with the three blogs on this website, I am working on a set of memoirs about different stories from my life. I am thrilled at the opportunity to write healing stories that I hope will help others.