Speed ahead to the year 1998! Not that the years in between aren't worth remembering, because they are, but it would take far too long to retell the story. Maybe sometime in the future when the moment is right. Today I am a woman of 39, married, with three lovely daughters, living in Redmond, Washington. We live in a rural area, but 1/2 hour from Seattle - what a deal, huh? The best of both worlds!

Currently I am a homemaker and my husband works as an NC Tech at Boeing. The girls, 15, 11, and 8, go to schools nearby. We have one pet, Sheba, a German Shepherd.

It's taken me a while to get used to the gray drizzly skies of Western Washington, but over the years I have come to appreciate the finer points of living in a marine climate. From the depths of the Olympic National Rain Forest to the breathtaking panoramas of the Cascade Mountain Range, Western Washington offers the best in hiking, back- packing, and snow sports.