I was born in Seattle, Washington, but raised in Pasco, on the dry side of the state, on the Columbia River. I lived the life of a farm girl with three brothers who liked to fight, yell, and torment me when they had the chance. Things like throwing spiders at me and bossing me around were some of their favorite things. I loved swimming in the summer and playing in the snow in the winter. When I was twelve, we moved to the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. My little brother and only sister were born there. I attended Junior high school through college, receiving my master's degree in communication disorders in 1974.My path to speech-language pathology was quite mysterious and it began in the fourth grade. I think many children experience something in their childhood, which eventually leads to their future work life. I never imagined that I would be working in Alaska. I practiced for 37 years, 31 of those years in Alaska.Working in Alaska as a speech therapist was an amazing adventure. I never thought I would have such an exciting, adventurous, and historical career. Very few speech therapists had been out to the villages when I started working there. The law requiring speech therapists in schools had just passed the year before. It was so remarkable, I had to write it down.I have retired to California and live with my husband, two dogs, and a cat. I have a lovely stepdaughter. For fun, I play and sing in an all-ukulele band and continue with the meditation practices I learned in Alaska.Read more about this authorRead less about this author