Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Welcome, reader! I just joined the Vocal+ community and wanted to share a little bit about me. Thank you for taking a few minutes of your day to read my story, among so many in this place.

The Basics

Once upon a time, a baby was born in October 1965, at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. The world would never be the same. Of course, that’s not saying much — the world wouldn’t be the same without you either!

I am a 59-year-old part Irish, part German, all-American woman. Proud member of Team Gen-X. As the memes say, I drank from the garden hose and lived to tell the tale.

Born and raised in South Jersey — the “garden” part of the Garden State — I am an enthusiastic patron of Wawa convenience stores, the Jersey shore, and Philadelphia sports teams. I never pump my own gas.

In 1989 I received a bachelor’s degree in English and writing from Rutgers College of Arts and Sciences in Camden, New Jersey. Later that year I got my first office job at a small medical publishing company in Philadelphia. I have spent the rest of my career doing some kind of editorial work in the medical field — copy editing, proofreading, development editing. I know something about almost every aspect of human anatomy, from neurology to podiatry.

My Passions

Reading and writing are my two strongest passions. I started writing stories even before I could read. I did this by taking sheets of paper, drawing a picture on each page, stapling the pages together into an ersatz “book,” and then telling the story to anyone who would listen. I would even “edit” my stories during the re-tellings, by narrating the pictures a little differently. For a while I was doing this every day after kindergarten.

Soon enough I learned to read, and I read everything I could get my hands on. During the summer I would ride my bike to the local library a few times a week to return books and get new ones. For books that I especially loved, I would write my own versions, basically changing the names of the characters but still having them go through similar adventures. Few things were more beautiful to me than a blank notebook, ready for my magical words!

The more books I read, though, the more I began to realize that my writing talent could never measure up to what I was reading. My interest in writing began to fall off. I did not have much support, except for teachers who would praise my writing skills, or an occasional contest win. Back then, we didn’t have the Internet and all the social media that went with it. I felt very much alone. By my teen years I had stopped writing altogether. Then marriage and family got more in the way.

The advent of the “information superhighway,” as the Internet was first called, opened up many doors for me. Seeing the possibilities, I slowly began to write again. Eventually I ended up here.

Family Life

I married my husband on October 20, 1990, and we have been together, for better or worse, since then. We have a wonderful son, who is grown and working on his own in New Mexico — a long way from New Jersey, but we are hoping he’ll get a transfer back to the East Coast one day. To me he is living evidence that if you love your child, they will turn out okay, even if you’re not the perfect parent. And I was not a perfect parent, because during many of those years with him, I was battling depression.

Physical and Mental Health

The years of working in the stress-filled world of medical publishing took a toll on me, physically and mentally. When I had my son in 1999, I was diagnosed with postpartum depression and received medication that changed my life. For the first time in a very long time, I felt like life was worth living again. I also underwent talk therapy, which exposed a lot of ghosts and traumatic events that I had been shoving under my psychological rug.

As I got my mental health under control, it was time to deal with my physical health. My weight had gone from 140 pounds as a newlywed to 270 pounds in 2021. I was pre-diabetic. My cholesterol levels were astronomical. My knees hurt. Everything hurt. I felt ugly and old. In 2022 I took the step to get bariatric surgery. It was a lot of hard work and sometimes pain, but my only regret is not getting it done sooner. I am now 90 pounds down, with about 40 pounds to go.

Miscellaneous Stuff About Me

I love animals. I recently lost my beloved shepherd mix Heidi, and have a new love of my life, a black Lab named Midnight. I also have an orange three-legged cat.

In my spare time I like to play role-playing games (RPGs). Dungeons & Dragons is one such game, among many. I recently went to an amazing convention where I played hours of such games.

Now It's Your Turn!

If you read this far, thank you! Please consider sharing your "About Me" story in a comment or link and maybe we can hang out here! Who knows!