Sorry George Lucas ...

A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away ...

It was in 1954, the last month of the year in a little village near the Great South Bay, Long Island, New York. My hero/guardian/protector was my grandmother, my mother's mother. She was a lady, taught me what I know about manners, place settings and baking.

My parents are deaf. I have a younger brother. All three of them have/had a drinking problem. My brother joined AA and I think he's stopped. Not sure about my parents, I don't stay in touch much.

I married my first true love, Rich, in 1985. We'd been engaged a year, met in 1983. We moved to MD (job opportunity) in 1985, had a kid, bought a car ... it was the original American dream. Then Rich had congestive heart failure and we learned he had Marfan syndrome. He fought with cardiomyopathy even after emergency surgery. He beat the doctor's prediction that he'd last about 5 years. By then, we were on our 3rd child. Rich hung in there until May, 2001. Then my world really did turn upside down and inside out.

In the summer of 2002, I married my second true love, TeddyBear (TB). Sometimes he and Rich are so much alike I feel like this is "Quantum Leap" and Rich is Scott Bakula leaping into TB's body. But there are plenty of differences...TB is physically much stronger, more powerfully built. Rich was very tall with long fingers. TB is 6 feet and has very large rough hands. Rich was touch-and-go spiritual; TB lives it. There's other differences, too, but so many similarities it's scary.

Other things about me:

I have a great sense of humor, sometimes silly, sometimes downright profound.

I love to read books and write stories.

I love my cats.

I try to be a good mom.

I try to be a good stepmom.

I love my husband and kids.

I absolutely adore our 5 grandchildren!

I still miss my first husband.

I enjoy being in the sticks of New Jersey. I had no idea NJ had this many sticks!! At the same time...I miss Long Island, my friends and the beach terribly!

I can be really lazy, a real procrastinater. Being disorganized doesn't help much either.

I need to lose weight for my health and peace of mind. I already have Type II diabetes. The good news is that I've lost 35 lbs since Sept. 2005. I used to "joke" that after Rich died, the kids and I gained him back in a year. My therapist thought that was quite profound...not sure why.

Anyway, more boring preliminary stuff later!