After graduation I went to the University of Miami but was a misfit there, quit after one semester and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NY for two years. I performed in a couple of Off-Broadway plays but my parents insisted that I return to college for a degree, so I served severalmore terms at Miami.

I had little interest in parties so I took flying lessons until my parents found out and cut off my funds. Finally, I
transferred to the Columbia School of General Studies and moved into International House. A serious accident derailed me and I spent some time recuperating back in Huntington.

When Castro came to power, I was in Havana and met Che Guevara, who sent me four dozen red roses. My parents, ever vigilant for opportunities to curtail my social life, noticed that young women were strictly chaperoned in Cuba, so I wasn¹t allowed to see him alone. They decided we must leave immediately when Castro came out as a Communist and America-hater, and I left my flowers in the hotel bathtub. I used my insurance settlement from the accident to see Europe and traveled around until I ran out of money.

I next found an apartment in Greenwich Village and worked as a copywriter for Benton & Bowles Advertising Agency. My father¹s heart attack soon after required that I return home to help, so I spent a year ghosting a book for a circus tightrope walker living in Manhattan.

I was married in 1962 and my daughter Ellen was born in 1963. My son Joe was born in 1965. I was active in the Civil Rights movement during the 60's. My marriage ended in divorce and I remarried in 1969. My daughter
Catherine was born in 1971. My husband died of cancer and I raised my children alone. We lived in Minnesota, Chappaqua, Brewster and Northport, NY, Massachusetts, Vermont and North Carolina. I worked at various
occupations including substitute teacher, legal secretary, restaurant service, auto sales, respite care worker, and writer. I also adopted many abused and abandoned animals over the years.

My youngest child and I lived on a mountain in Vermont for a year, our only heat source a wood stove I built from a galvanized garbage can; I chopped wood daily before sledding down to our car and driving to Montpelier where she went to school and I was a bank teller. When the property was sold, we gave away most of our things and headed south in an old chartreuse Plymouth Duster, hauling two horses in a trailer, our blind gray wolf, large dog, cat, and rabbit packed into the car. The experiences of that year convinced me I could survive anything, and I'll always love Vermont for the lessons (and the beauty.)

We drove down the coast to Florida, camped in the Ocala National Forest through two hurricanes and headed back to Hendersonville, NC, where we remained through Catie¹s high school years. I managed a domestic violence shelter, counseled the clients, implemented a GED program, and also ran an underground railroad from my home, helping battered women escape to other states. We lived on a 450 acre farm and I spent my spare time hiking on the land, tending our herd of three horses, and studying herbal medicine with Cherokee healers who were generous enough to teach me.

My children all put themselves through college and graduate school and have been wonderfully successful in their fields. Ellen is an award-winning newspaper feature writer in NY, Joe is a lawyer in San Francisco, and Catie left a Psychology PhD program to sing blues and write and lives in Florida.

After years of lone contentment, I met Flip Parker, a musician and beautiful soul from California and we married almost instantly. We lived near Nashville for seven years with many animals; when we lost my wolf, dogs and horses to age, we sold our home and moved to San Diego, two blocks from the Pacific. I spend most of my time writing, photographing the sublime and ridiculous, and walking on the beach. In May my children sent us to Hawaii for our 10th anniversary. I truly raised my own best friends! I have no grandchildren yet, but both daughters are engaged to delightful young men so I¹m optimistic.

The journey has not been dull, which is good because I have an almost pathological fear of boredom. Life is the best thing that ever happened to me! I remember many of you with great fondness and also gratitude because
your acceptance helped me through many difficult times at home. My husband asked me recently if I was popular in high school and I told him that in our class, EVERYONE was popular. I have always believed that the loving spirit we shared was unusual and that I was most blessed to be a part of your lives. I joyfully look forward to seeing you all in four years.

Susan