Fearless in accepting new challenges.

When I look at my life, I know that I am an ordinary woman who has lived an extraordinary life. Nothing was expected of me so I had the freedom to invent myself, to make my own circumstances as George Bernard Shaw would say. I joined the Air Force followed by college where I was transformed by the rigor of critical thinking and inspired by different perspectives. I have enjoyed and benefitted from a variety of career paths—political campaign management, event management, hotel sales, destination management & marketing and economic development work. I have had the great honor of working with hundreds of people smarter than me and I always looked better because of them. Looking back, I was relatively fearless in accepting new challenges. I sometimes wonder when, and how, I had achieved that level of confidence.

I grew intellectually from being insatiably curious, a voracious reader and an extensive international travel. I am a political activist and a believer in truth and justice for ALL. I have known the great love of a man—the best human being I have ever known—for which I am very grateful. I have good and true friends who accept me for who and what I am and never let me get away with anything. As for aging, I have visible evidence that I am growing older. And yet everything I think, and feel is about 30 years younger. I know full well that good health helps me sustain this perspective. And, the fact that my expertise and experience is still in demand, I continue to contribute to work that makes a difference in people’s lives. I intend to grow older reluctantly and as gracefully as possible.