When I was a child, I heard this quite a lot, "You're going to grow up to be a street sweeper".

This is because I had a couple of learning disabilities before the days when they knew about things like learning disabilities. I had always tested above average on the aptitude tests, but I was getting terrible grades. So the adults thought I was a lazy underachiever, and the other kids just thought I was dumb. And I guess I believed them.

When I was 15, I became chronically ill, an illness from which I have never completely recovered. But it was an invisible illness, and nobody, including me, knew I had it, or just what, exactly was wrong with me. I just know that I remember a time when I felt healthy, and had energy, and that after a bad flu when I was 15, I never felt well again.

So, I have never really tried to make any long-term plans. I got ideas about things I wanted to try, and then I would try them. I've done almost everything I ever got an idea to do, including being a wildlife rehabilitation worker, a veterinary assistant, a zookeeper, an interpretive naturalist, a mother, a professional weaver, a back to the land, self-sufficient, living out in the middle of nowhere, hippy lady, and quite a few other things.

I can't really say I was necessarily successful at any of the things I've done (except being an interpretive naturalist... I think I was good at that, but it paid minimum wage, and I needed a living wage), otherwise I would probably have continued to do them. But because I kept hoping I would find something I would be successful at doing, I kept trying new things. And I think that is the real success of my life. I've had a very interesting, although much of the time, a very gruelling life.

Back when I first joined the Mudcat, I was working towards getting a bachelor's degree and then I hoped to get a masters degree in counseling. For a long time, I have felt that I could do a good job in that field. But problems with my vision and short term memory have probably made that an impossibility. But I guess that's ok, because I've still got a couple of things I want to accomplish, and I think they are within my capabilities.

And what a pleasant suprise it has been to discover a whole new life through just being here in the Mudcat, this being where I met my husband, and all of the good things that have come to me as a result of that.

Anyway, although I've been a lot of different things, and I've done a lot of different things in my life, one thing I've never been is a street sweeper.