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“I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.”​-Herman Melville

 I often describe myself as lucky. I had the good fortune to be born in a loving family and later created a loving family of my own. While growing up in Oregon (The picture of poppies below was taken in my grandfather's garden in Imnaha Oregon) my parents encouraged my sisters and I to remember that "...knowledge is the only thing that cannot be taken from you." That is probably why we have eleven college degrees between the five of us.   
​I found myself lucky again in marrying Don. (He is pictured below with our family at the graduation of our eldest daughter in 2017).  He seemed to echo my parent's belief in the importance of education. His mantra is "You don't get an education you have to take it."  Which also echoes Eleanor Roosevelt's observation that the only thing you can give a person is an opportunity. That opportunity came for me when I chose to be a stay-at-home mom while my daughters were young. Don encouraged me to attend graduate classes during this time. I completed my masters degree during their preschool years. I returned to teaching for a while but when they chose to homeschool for middle school, I used the home time to get a PhD in literacy instruction. I felt challenged by this course work but mostly I felt very lucky to be able to have the time, finances (thank you Don), and support (thank you girls) to achieve this goal.
​So...I am lucky. I am lucky to share my life with two amazing whippets, Daruk-Makto and Calypso (pictured below). I am lucky to live in the beautiful state of Nevada. Most importantly, however, I count myself very lucky to have the opportunity to teach at Alpine Academy. It is my (very biased) opinion that there is no greater honor than to be allowed to touch the future through the art of teaching.
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