MySpace - Christine - 59 - Female - Clarksville, Tennessee

"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it."

~~Dwight D. Eisenhower
United States President

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May 23. Rochelle graduates with honors. College is just around the corner. Congratulations, Rock!

In one of life's storybook moments,my granddaughter, Rochelle, prepares for her senior prom, moving in a heartbeat from young high school kid in jeans and torn hoodie to tall willowy young woman seemingly in an instant. Wow. I'm not sure I was ready for this, but I also know that it is her turn to embrace life and be all she can be. Next step: college.

Rochelle's prom photos by Bill Larson of Clarksville Online

Remembering Annette

I just learned today that an old friend died, actually both family and friend. Annette and my mother became friends in the 1920s when they entered elementary school, and their friendship last more than 75, never faltering, ever constant -- a gift they held for each other and shared with the rest of us. My dad and Annette's David passed away first, leaving the two friends to support and sustain each other. They held a lifetime of travel, of adventure, of elegant nights spend beautifully dressed and dancing, of other days cooking out by a fishing stream. In their later years, I often brought them together, picking up the goodies at Bernadino's bakery, cutting them into smaller portions so the could snack on a sampling of everything. Innumerable Chinese dinners, shopping at fashion bug, dessert at home. Occasional outing such as Christmas at Bill's were highlights for both of them. It is some comfort to believe that now that generation of my family are together now and watching the rest of us from a far more peaceful place. Dear Annette, we loved you so much. Rest in peace.

Meet Franklin. Found in a gutter outside a theater on Franklin Street. Hungry (translation: ravenous). Injured (half his tail was gone. That was at about eight weeks of age. Like Annie, he's moved from orphan to Momma Warbucks (sort-of). He healed beautifully, fattened up considerably, and has established himself as the dominant species who knows better than to try and get on a table or counter.

Before I write about myself, I will present the hero of my life: my mom, who passed away six years ago, just before Mother's Day. These two slideshows reflect just a few of the images of the woman I remember and so loved. She was not just a mother; she was a friend and my inspiration for life.

Here is my gorgeous granddaughter and company: Prom Night:

Every day is the start of the rest of my life. I am a mid-life student who is doing it all backwards -- career first for 30 years, then school and the education to augment all the things I've already learned.

My undergraduate degree focused on community organizing and women's studies; my individualized masters thesis was a study of AD and a book length manuscript on one woman's descent through Alzheimer's Disease. I am working on my second master's, a terminal degree in writing, which will complete the dreams I put on hold many years ago to raise family and care for elderly relatives. Many of my friends have been my friends since childhood, and once a new connection is made, I rarely lose a friend, even if the relationship shifts, as they sometimes do. I like to think that it is because I am a good friend too.

I am active as a volunteer in my community. I am a politically liberal activist and creative thinker with an adventurous spirit. In the course of my professional and personal life I have done such things as hot air ballooning, white water canoing and rafting, hung out of a plane to photograph skydivers, and flown in gliders and small aircraft. Many times I took advantage of opportunities that paid me to have that much fun and write about it; many other times I was simply busy living life rather than watching it pass by.

My best friend and I journeyed into the Amazon and climbed the Inca landscape of Machu Picchu, both of us having recovered from serious back injuries (mine landed me in a nursing home for a while). This trip was our graduation present to ourselves when we completed our BAs.

These images of Machu Picchu, Lima and the Andes live in my mind as well. I was 51. Back problems, asthma, even being overweight and somewhat out of shape back then (40 lbs ago) -- nothing came between us and our trip and we managed to do every bit of the fairly grueling itinerary from Peru's Pacific coastline to 13,000 feet up in the snow capped Andes, and all the way over to the Amazon's broiling equatorial heat.

Phase Two of our journey: Views of the Amazon.

On the home front, I garden, paint, build things and do plumbing when needed, and will tackle just about any project. If I don't know what I am doing, I make it part of my learning curve, which works most of the time (but not always). My disasters usually happen in true Erma Bombeck form and present marvelous opportunities for comic relief. I am passionate about the arts in any form, love books, Broadway, movies, and summer in the Berkshires and Vermont.

Here are images of a few places I love in New England.

I worked as a theater/arts/film critic for many years in both print and broadcast media. I have a brain and use it regularly, and am insatiably curious about everything (that's the aware, inquiring,investigative journalist in me). Can't turn it off.

I am a true Gemini spirit, at home with nature, place and space, equally at home in the boardroom, city hall, all the best places (which includes a lot of time in the country), a few of the worst, and a number of beautiful but isolated wilderness places. I have blue jeans and ball gowns and what I don't have I can design and make. I am comfortable in my own skin, knowing that I can find my way anywhere, survive and thrive, since everything I need to thrive is within me already. The people around me just make life richer.

In this second half of my life, I have re-kindled and set aflame my interest in things spiritual and things of the earth, finding a great deal of peace in times of voluntary solitude and self-imposed isolation, in country settings, by rivers, shorelines, and mountains. I have also learned to trust and listen to my body and pay attention to the things that heal and the things that keep one sane, and both vitally alive and at peace with oneself.

I am mom to one adult daughter whom I love deeply, and am the enthusiastic grandmother of three teenagers. My social circle is eclectic, diverse, and reflects my many interests.

I am spiritual rather than religious, and an adamant non-smoker. It doesn't matter which birthday passes, I always see the best years and the best opportunities ahead of me.