I’m grateful to my parents for raising me in a good home. It was a good home but it wasn’t a nurturing home. They were only human. They did the best they could do. They really did give me everything I wanted except for a horse. Every birthday I wished for a horse but all I got was a plastic horse. I never got the horse. It’s the one thing my parents never gave me.

When I was tetherball champion at Mitchell elementary school, my father made me a tether ball post. It was good to be growing up in the nineteen fifties; it was a family time. Things were stable; the economy was good. We got TVs. I never remember listening to the radio but my brother Robin does. I was just that much younger than my brother. He remembers listening to the radio. Cars were coming up, coming up; everything was coming up in the world.

My father built me a tether ball in our driveway. He got a tire and filled it with concrete, and put the tetherball pole in the middle, so I could practice and not have to go down to the school. That was a cool thing. The whole time I was growing up I always thought my girlfriends had more than me. Do you know how that is? It’s a weird thing. But now when I look back, the memories I have are good memories. My parents weren’t abusive.

When Jay and I first got together, I said I wanted to go horseback riding. Jay hates to horseback ride. Horseback riding is so important to lots of girls. There was a place I could go, where I could ride. My parents gave me riding lessons. They gave me the opportunity, but I wanted my own horse.

At this stage in life my health is important to me, my dogs, my husband, my son, and enjoying life. I’ve always wanted to help other people. I go through these phases where I want to join the Peace Corps, and go to another country and help people who are less fortunate. Or, I’d like to do something like that for animals. In fact, probably more for animals. For example when I was in Morocco, I fed the starving dog before I fed the starving people.

Oh yes, and my friends are very valuable to me. My friends are in the top five. Good food and wine are also important, so is good olive oil. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to expand on all these interests.

What would I like my kids to know about me? I’m nicer than I come off! I know sometimes they think I mean, but it’s really my sense of humor. I like to make people laugh. That’s always been important to me.

My style and sense of aesthetics goes back to my mother. My mother taught me that. She decorated, but it wasn’t my taste. However she had an eye for detail. She was very clean; she was a good cook, and gardener. She would take me shopping. That was one of the things we did together, and she taught me about clothes, putting the outfits together, having the right shoes, the right purse. We’d go around to antique stores, and she gave me credit for seeing things.

I do think that I can visualize well. And I think that goes back to my mother teaching me out to visualize. When I went into stores with her she would talk me through purchases.