7 things about myself

Per request of Forging Ironman, I am going to post 7 things about myself for others to read.

1. I am a Mozart fanatic. In Vienna and Salzburg I always become a wide-eyed, awestruck child to think I am standing in the rooms where he composed, where he was born, where he conducted.

2. I taught high school and middle school English for years. Didn't like high school. Adored middle school. I miss it to the point of heartache.

3. I was a competitive dancer and was recruited by Disney World.

4. I was an eyewitness to the Challenger incident. I lived near Cape Canaveral and spent my first couple of decades watching shuttle and rocket launches from my backyard. It is one of the best parts of my life, with the exception of this. (I do not call it an accident or an explosion.)

5. I became a teacher because of Challenger. I spent a few months writing back and forth with Christa McAuliffe's mother. Christa was the teacher on the shuttle. Her life had a great impact on me.

6. I play the violin but I can't carry a tune in a bucket!

7. I have a Bachelors in English and in Secondary Education and a Master's in English with an emphasis in TOEFL (the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language). Words are puzzle pieces waiting to be put together, just begging to be finessed and perfected. I worked in health care for years before becoming a teacher and while I loved it, it came down to the greater of the two loves. Ironic that I can't work outside the home any longer (i.e. classroom teacher) but now as an advocate I'm talking to patients every day again.