Cindy Decker:  

Well, lets see...I worked at One Hour Martinizing dry cleaners for five years as a presser from the time I was 17. I met this dork I thought I was in love with (at 21) and we moved to Juneau Alaska where his family lived-despite all of the objections from my family. I missed Monterey terribly! I got a job at Fred Meyers Jewelers and promptly got hooked on jewelry! Then Zales jewelers offered me more money to come and work for them-so off I went. Big time hooked there...we got 40% off on our own purchases!! Then Richard and I had some rocky times...living with his family didn't help. I moved out with some help from my new friends. Then after the grief subsided.....It was party time! What a blur.....I never danced and drank so much in my life! I had more fun and more friends than I ever had....and all my friends bought jewelry from me, so my commissions were great! Then I met the father of my two children, Wes. His family owned a tire/mechanics shop in Juneau. We partyed, danced, dined etc. I brought him down to (the lower 48..as the Alaskans called it) to meet my family. Wes and I had a great time for 6 years and had Danielle and Corey (my kids)....but as the kids came along....one of us didn't want to stop partying and so I had to sell our place and take the little ones and come back home. Oh, and yes it IS true about the ratio of more men than women in Alaska. As soon as the word was out about Wes and I breaking up...I had more dates from all kinds of men than you can imagine....the honest to God truth. Anyways, I put Danielle in Monte Vista Elementary and Corey in daycare and went to work at Northstar Telecom, which was a contractor for Pacific Bell in Salinas. I met an entirely different kind of people there and had to learn how to be an engineer. Great pay but hard work. Of course due credit goes to my dad whose been a Senior Engineer and and had already retired from P.B. same as my...Expand for more