My very-first-best-friend, Leslie.  We did everything together, even rode a bus all the way to Grand Island, Nebraska, from Omaha.  By ourselves!  Oh, yeah, we were cool.  We went to visit her grandparents and for the trip we dressed up from head to toe.  I still like to travel, get dressed up, and do things with my best friends.  I’m still pretty cool, too!

Oh, how I loved kindergarten.  NOT!  At least not the first days or weeks of kindergarten.  (Notice me, frowning in the picture)  I was so frightened, my mother had to walk me to school every day.  The minute she turned around, I did too!  I followed her until she discovered me walking behind her.  Together we turned around and went back into my classroom.  Eventually I learned to love school.  I loved it so much, I became a teacher myself.

I started tap and ballet lessons when I was six years old.  I’ve never stopped dancing either!  I don’t wear sparkly costumes anymore, (or have curly hair) but I can boogey and shimmy with the best of them!  (I’m the dancer on the right side).

When I was nine years old, my family moved from Omaha to Port Washington, Wisconsin.  That was even scarier than kindergarten!  I hated living there until I discovered Lake Michigan.  I loved the sand, the foamy waves, the jetty that lead to the lighthouse.  It was a magical place for me.  I spent my entire summer on the beach and I know that’s where my passion for the ocean began.  I am writing a book of poetry about my move and what that experience was like for me.  One of my favorite poems is about Lake Michigan.  My brother, Matthew, almost drowned in the lake.  He was caught in an undertow and luckily, a family friend was able to swim out and rescue him!  I wonder what he remembers about the lake?

Speaking of my brother, Matthew. He is three years younger than I.  I could talk him into anything.  Poor guy!  Here he is, all dressed up and no place to go.  I used to do terrible things like convince him that I could eat my ice cream bar faster than he could eat his.  He would lick that baby down to the stick and I would still be savoring my ice cream, lick by slow lick!