Comments:
What have I done with the last 25 years? Hard to believe it has been that many! I'll give you as short a version as possible leaving out any failures or disappointments (to save space of course). I graduated from OSU in 1988 with a BA in psychology. Worked in research at Batelle in Columbus for a few years prior to returning to college (this time BGSU) to get my masters in Guidance & Counseling (1991). Met my husband Bill at BGSU and got married in 1993. Bill is a Sociologist and works at The Ohio State University at Newark. My family loves this because he can get OSU football tickets-a great job perk! We lived in Newark Ohio for several years prior to moving to Granville Ohio where we currently live with our 4 children. We are very lucky to have 2 girls Margo & Eleanor and 2 boys Parker & Miles. I worked in a private foster care agency as a social worker for 13 years until the birth of our last child Miles in 2004. I had decided to take a year off when Miles was born. However, when he was 5 months old, our 3rd born son Parker was diagnosed with cancer. He was 5 at the time and went through 9 months of chemotherapy. Those were some tough, life changing times. Fortunately, he has survived and his cancer has been in remission for 3 years now. I still haven't returned to paid work and feel very fortunate to be able to be home full time. In addition to lots of laundry, taxiing children around, and refereeing arguments between my kids, I spend my free time volunteering at school, as a Girl Scout Leader for my girls and also giving back to some of the amazing agencies that helped us throughout Parker's cancer journey. Probably I am most proud of my participation in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. My sisters (Mary & Elizabeth) and I have raised over $30,000 for the society and have participated in 2 triathlons and a half marathon. Any of you that had gym class with me know that this wasn't something that came naturally to me. It's amazing though what we can do when the stakes and motivations are so high. I will continue to raise funds and awareness until we get a darn cure for this awful disease.
