I'm an Iowa girl, born and raised in Marshalltown. I lived out east—in Newport, Rhode Island, for ten years with my first husband—and then we moved back to Iowa where we eventually divorced. I stayed here to raise my children and found a full-time teaching job at Hawkeye Community College. I remarried in 2000—Mike is a farmer turned teacher, turned librarian/IT guy/geek.  We enjoy driving in the country in the fall: Mike points out the tractors and harvesting equipment and comments on the state of the corn and soybean crops. He's become a wonderful Step-dad and Papa Mike to our two grandsons and now Nora, our granddaughter. 

The picture in the upper left represents four generations. I'm holding my daughter, Michelle, with my mother, Charlotte, and grandma Nellie.