<p>woa, MsT- Isn’t that NICE!</p>
<p>Me; BA Temple U. a long, long time ago</p>
<p>Husband; BA with honors(W&M), JD Villanova</p>
<p>child 1; 24,1 1/2 yrs. Rowan -working in Ohio</p>
<p>child 2; 23 BS U.C.F.teacher in Florida, married , expecting first child</p>
<p>child 3; 18 going to Penn State Engineering in fall 05</p>
<p>child 4; 17 h.s.junior </p>
<p>Loving every minute of our life!</p>
<p>Me: undergrad B.S. Engineering at UVA, Med school at Emory. Practice in Alabama
Lived up and down East Coast as a kid.</p>
<p>Spouse: BS from Emory. Proud Homemaker!</p>
<p>Oldest son 1st yr at UVA</p>
<p>Slow day at work, so I’ll jump in…</p>
<p>Me: Born and raised outside of Cleveland, moved to a suburb of Chicago my sophomore year, and graduated from one of the top 10-20 high schools in the state. Attended a 4th tier college in Michigan; graduated with a BA in German and in history. Was intending to attend seminary (Princeton, Duke, or Garrett at Northwestern), but within three weeks of each other, my parents were diagnosed as being terminally ill. Ended up staying home and being their caregivers, which actually turned into a blessing because I wouldn’t have met my husband (of 24 years) otherwise. Husband’s work (see below) meant many moves, so I have had many identities…editor, film producer, defense analyst, costume designer for community theatres, perennial plant specialist at a large nursery, and currently, bookkeeper. (The last one still mystifies me…I always HATED math!) In my high-falutin’ moments, I just tell people that I am a modern-day Renaissance woman :D</p>
<p>Husband: No college. Four years in the USMC, got out and discovered there wasn’t a huge job market for machine gunners. Decided to go back in, the Marine recruiter was at lunch, so joined the Navy instead. Retired from the Navy and now is a short-haul truck driver.</p>
<p>Furry friends: At year six of our marriage, we had acquired 6 dogs and 6 cats…the doctors said we would never have kids. Of course, year 7 came along and darling daughter made her appearance! Down to 2 cats and 2 dogs (Cocker spaniel and basset hound) at the moment; my husband really misses having a large dog in the house (we used to have a deerhound and a St. Bernard), so I suspect a wolfhound or deerhound is in our future. We will never be without a basset hound…</p>
<p>Daughter (She’s really not an afterthought!): Junior at a performing arts high school looking for LACs with strong music and political science programs. Does not want a BM in music because she is “more than just a set of vocal chords” but also “cannot imagine life without music.” Very politically involved; hence the desire for a double major.</p>
<p>sybbie, in one year, back in the day, my sainted father was paying 4 undergrad tuitions and one law school tuition. In ONE year!! I’m thinking about today’s dollars but it’s just too scary. I’m glad the years of “catholic roulette” birth control are over!</p>
<p>e.</p>
<p>ez - Another lol fan of your post. Isn’t laughter supposed to add to life expectancy? You just gave us all a few more years.</p>
<p>ezduzzit: Your post remind me of a friend of my dad’s. When the friend’s daughter began to look at colleges, her counselor suggested MIT. She responded by saying, “My mom went to MIT. My dad went to MIT. My brother went to MIT. If we had had a ** DOG, ** it would have gone to MIT. I am not going there!”</p>
<p>ez,</p>
<p>Same story here - dad-UCLA, me-UCLA, bro1-UCLA, sis-UCLA, bro2-UCLA. My dad shoulda bought a condo in Santa Monica when I started. He would have made a ton of $$ by the time bro2 was done! </p>
<p>BTW, my family has adopted your state. SIL in Minneapolis, D at Carleton. S at UWisc drives up every couple months. H is thinking we should retire there. Dumb me, I thought we were supposed to retire to a temperate climate. S is UMich grad, and along with H, is avid hockey fan. Two of last 3 Thanksgivings, we’ve been at the UMN-UM hockey game at UMN. Great fun! No wonder you won’t give up your hockey tickets. Gotta love those cheerleaders on ice.</p>
<p>M & B: we, too, were at the Michigan game! You will have to look us up next year–I like cooking really big turkeys!</p>
<p>No worries about retiring here: it IS a temperate climate…affected just a bit by continentality…all you will need is a fireplace and four wheel drive. :)</p>
<p>ez</p>
<p>Slow night. </p>
<p>Got out in '72 from OSU (by the ocean) in food manufacturing and hort. Worked a bit (5am to 8pm) for two seasons; moved to Eastern Shore MD (that’s a foreign country in the 70’s). Got to NJ and wife worked in CT where the money grows on trees. NYC was interesting. Thought about migrating back to Oregon because the only way we saw flowers was to go to Short Hills-Bloomingdales to see flowers in the planters. In June we were in Pathmark and spouse was picking out cherries, carefully, one- at- a- time. Unbelieveable. Never bought cherries because always worked summers where they paid you to pick cherries. </p>
<p>Returned West. Bought a small peach orchard, marketing UPicks, wholesale, and direct sale. Cherries are free on the farm next to ours. Starved but we did have the sweetest peaches in the Valley. Farming is really a way of life-its just you and God, unfortunately God doesn’t pay the bills. Overcame my fear of electronics that I developed when I saw my college roomates sweat the engineering courses. Went back to school and did whizbang electronics for 15 years until the last crash made me realize that hightech will not recover in US. </p>
<p>Now in financial services sales and marketing. </p>
<p>Met wife at college. Interesting story with her and 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon. She still has the greatest looking tail. </p>
<p>Son, junior at CMU, Doing well. Seems to have alot of free time. Intelligent and very mellow from day -265. We never pushed-he never complained. Spouse and I can’t figure out how we are blessed (we discovered how it occurred from other threads-we hooked up the right way after 12 years together) In public school, 2nd grade, we were picking up kid for Thanksgiving holiday, and he was crying (he never cries). Teacher told us that son couldn’t stand 2nd grade because he was too bored and had no friends in class. Battery of tests ensued with teachers’ rec to skip two grades. We opted to do one, but he still developed friends a year ahead. Athletically he’s a bit of a wimp but otherwise will do and try just about anything. Sgiovinc1 is that typical? </p>
<p>No pets. But we do have skunk problems. Did you know that after you live trap them,
you skirt them from the upwind side…with engine starter fluid. Becareful not to inhale or smoke or you will go down too or blowup from the ether.</p>
<p>That’s an incredible story, itstoomuch! Boy, does mine sound boring compared to it. You are right about the flowers in CT.</p>
<p>I’ll take a turn. No funny stories, though. Sorry.</p>
<p>Me: PA native, nursing major at Univ. of Pitt. Piano teacher.
H: PA native, engineering major, also at Pitt. That’s where we met.</p>
<p>(I worked as a nurse for only a year, and did not like it. Quit when I married. H & I also have been foster parents to 25 kids.)</p>
<p>Lived 18 years in GA. 1½ years in Germany. 1½ to go.</p>
<p>S#1: Senior at Penn, economics. Job hunting. A bit hard on him; if he doesn’t find a job, he can’t exactly come live with us while he looks.</p>
<p>S#2: Freshmen at Juilliard, music major. Loving it. Loves NYC.</p>
<p>D: 10th grade. No clue as to what she wants.</p>
<p>Pets: 3 cats - now living with relatives in the US. Here we just have spiders. (Ugh.)</p>
<p>PS. S # 1 - born in Pittsburgh, grew up in Atlanta, now lives in Philly. Past few weeks of football have been exciting.</p>
<p>binx you are a hero. 
:)!!!</p>
<p>Binx,</p>
<p>That is amazing. Who you are and what you and your husband has done has truly made a difference. Are you still in touch with most of your foster kids?</p>
<p>Me, one of six in a blended family. First job was selling popcorn and coke at a movie theater, it didn’t have defined lines and I learned the meaning of stress at 15 when The Graduate premiered and I didn’t have someone’s popcorn to them when the show got started. . . . Then on to Sewanee for undergrad, BA English. Didn’t like the way they shocked rats all the time in the psych department, waited to grad school to study to be a school counselor at Peabody College. Peabody turned into Vanderbilt the summer I got my MS, and if I had had an extra $1500, my degree could have been from Vandy, but I did NOT, and it seemed a little hypocritical, anyway. Been a mental health and/or school counselor for 25 years. </p>
<p>H school administrator at the fine boarding school where we live. Went to Sewanee, BA English, and MA Oxford (Keeble College)</p>
<p>DD graduated from Swarthmore and is a grad student at Penn</p>
<p>S1 is a HS senior and applied a bunch of places, nowhere EA. So we wait. Unlike DD, he will be happy wherever he goes.</p>
<p>S2, a junior, is a talented, energetic underachiever. Next year will be very interesting.</p>
<p>We have no pets right now, and you all are inspiring me to get that dog!</p>
<p>itstoomuch, lol, on the Kbacon reference. I have one degree seperation from Kevin Bacon–but not saying how! :)</p>
<p>Thanks for your kind words, Sybbie and SBmom. I hope in retrospect that I didn’t come across as looking for strokes – I actually was in a mindset of “what kind of jobs have I had” when I wrote that. It was one of the hardest I’ve ever had. Some of the kids do stay in touch for awhile, but for most, being in foster care is not one of their happiest memories, and therefore, is put out of mind as soon as possible. Especially those kids who went back to their parents – who are not going to encourage their kids to remember times of abuse or neglect or whatever. We usually hear from only maybe 3 or 4 at Christmas, and that’s about it. (Didn’t hear from any this Christmas, but we got very few cards from anyone this year. Guess people didn’t want to mail overseas. At least I hope that was why.)</p>
<p>Itstoomuch: You have had an interesting life! How did it occur that you are blessed? My H and I have been blessed because we have tried to provide a stable family life…no foolin’ around…and have tried to give each one of our children all they needed to be successful in life. But, genes are very important. I am basically a great believer that nature supsersedes nurture. My own personal experiences with friends who have adopted have led me to come to that conclusion. Good good people who have brought upon themselves tremendous challenges in life…like a son who is becoming increasingly more schizophrenic as he matures…to the point of intense paranoia…which in my years of experience will lead to violent actions as he “misconstrues” the most benign of events. Sad to see. They are GREAT people. In reference to your comment about how your S is a wimp, my Harvard S was a wimp and VERY unathletic. I used to sit and cry in the Little League stands. He had the LOWEST batting average and picked daisies in the outfield. He refused to tell me he was bored in school, however, but would pursue his own interests when he came home under the covers at night…reading. I figured it out…he never really complained…like yours…and also had few friends. He was tested at my request and I encouraged them to skip him at least one grade which they did for most subject areas, and several grades in math and science in HS, but kept him with his class for all other activities. You’re son sounds like a gem…Good luck with him…and I hope there are jobs out there when he graduates. One of the advantages of CMU is that they have a great job placement program. Keep in touch!</p>
<p>Picking daisies: priceless. I have a son just like this too. Only when the ball finally came his way he and the short stop were hugging!</p>