Yellowstone May - 2003

Easter - 2003

Mom & Kids 2005

I knew I was old when ...
In the school computer lab, a kindergarten teacher told her class to click on the picture of the typewriter.  A student raised her hand and asked, "What's a typewriter?" ... And I realized this child had no way of knowing.

Defining Pre-Mom event 
Slipping in a climb in the Tetons and dangling from a 3/4 inch rope on the face of a granite mountain, with nothing but crisp mountain air between the souls of my shoes and the tree tops about 80 feet below.  I learned that as long as you’re alive you can keep going.

Defining Post-Mom event 
In 1996 just after my sixth child was born, after seeing numerous specialists who had no answers I was told by the neurologist that I may have a brain tumor or aneurysm.  I began to look at life much differently while waiting for the results of the EEG and MRI, and not knowing if I would live to raise my children.

High School Memories 
Mrs. Patten watching closely as I kissed my boyfriend goodbye at her classroom door, then taking out her lipstick and asking if I'd like to borrow it.

Mr. Holland's sociology class.  Where in the world did he find some of those amazing guests?  Also, 12 Angry Men, Legos, etc.

Mr. Estrada's class: "Que es la tarea", and "Mas despacio, por favor".  (I still use the last one.)  He was simply an exceptional human being.

Finally winning a class competition: Spirit Week our Senior year!

As Chuck Foreman's IWE, preparing the punch cards to enter the grades into the school's computer.

Other '70s tech.: Typewriters and the coveted IBM Selectric II's (electric, AND self-correcting!),  Ditto machines (smelling the fresh pages), Atari - Pong & Tanks; Mattel Football games, rotary-dial phones, Hi-Fi and LPs, 8-Tracks, key-punched cash registers.

Then there was the Cobra, TransAm, and Camero.  Love's Baby Soft, Charlie, Hai Karate and Elsha.  The Afro, Farrah's feathered bangs, Dorothy Hammel's wedge cut.  Angel Flights, Dittos, Bare Traps, Gunne Sax, halter tops and tube tops, and those foxy guys in short shorts with Nike's and knee-high tube socks -- with stripes.  Far Out, man!  (I'll leave the music nostalgia to Dennis.)