Dawn (____):
CLASS OF 1973
North Penn High SchoolClass of 1973
Lansdale, PA
Rutgers University - Graduate SchoolClass of 2007
New brunswick, NJ
Rutgers University - Social WorkClass of 2007
New brunswick, NJ
Rutgers University Class of 2001
New brunswick, NJ
Ocean County CollegeClass of 1998
Toms river, NJ
Dawn's Story
Dave Moyer, Jeff Rutter, Bruce Heck and Fred Harms. . . I miss those guys! They were the best bunch of people I ever knew. Those were the "good ole' days."
Then, I moved to New Jersey, got married, divorced, got married, had kids, got divorced again . . . whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Then I wised up and realized that my looks would someday fade and I would be left with . . . uh, oh. So I went back to school and finally found what I was good at, though I hadn't been very good at it back in the day. So, after years of being a professional student, I have three degrees in the social sciences and a couple or three letters after my name and some fancy schmancy titles and such. Big wow. Did I mention how I miss those guys? Anywho, I laugh alot, enjoy walking my dogs and kayaking.
I travel alot these days--just making up for lost time. And I have yet to need the Pythagorean Theorem to work out some domestic or work-related problem. My son is a Marine; my daughter is in school. I'm engaged to the most wonderful (and most stubborn) man in the world and I wouldn't have it any other way. I have a job, though you can hardly call it work. And I guess you could say I'm pretty darn happy and content. Life is good. :-)
The above is what you might call the Reader's Digest condensed version. If you want the blow-by-blow, you'll have to read the book. In the meantime, if you would like to read some of my research, see Current Psychology. I believe it's the Summer 2004 issue. The title is something like "Alexithymia and Verbal Intellectual Deficit." We changed the title so many times that I can no longer remember what the published title finally was. But if you're not a fan of scientific jargon, pass it up--lest you end up with a headache.
My brother, Ron, had a stroke several years ago, but has made a full recovery. My other brother, Bob, has retired--a millionaire. Rick is still as annoying as ever. Delsie is still chasing fads and will probably kill herself on a motorbike that she just began riding at the tender, young age of 71! There's a recipe for disaster.
Me . . . I just continue plodding along and searching the world for that next adventure. I've looked into the caldera of the world's most active volcano--Kilauaea--from a helicopter. I swam with spinner dolphins off the western shore of the Big Island of Hawaii. I survived a deer's head-on collision with me on my motorcycle, traveling at 50 miles per hour. I have spent New Year's Eve in Bangkok, Thailand and have gone whale-watching off Nova Scotia's Cape Breton coast. I've been bitten by fire ants in Port Canaveral, Florida while watching a manatee play in the shallow water just yards off shore. I've looked out over Somes Sound, Long Pond, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park from the fuselage of a glider, soaring silently one mile above the Earth's crust. I could almost have touched the nose of a black bear that walked just under my chair lift during the German festival at Hunter Mountain, New York. I called to him and he looked me right in the eye. I've been chased by a nasty Blue Iguana at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park on Grand Cayman Island, viewed moose near my campsite in Rangeley, ME, zip-lined through the canopy of the St. Lucia Rainforest, basked in the sun on Waikiki beach and I've climbed to the top of Diamond Head. I have eaten Digby Scallops in Digby, Nova Scotia and have dug, cooked and eaten Cape Neddick clams and been serenaded to sleep by a million coqui in a mountaintop villa in the El Yunque Rainforest of Puerto Rico. Bourbon Street, New Orleans is everything you've heard it is--and make sure to sample the local cuisine, if you visit, which I did, with my daughter and granddaughter, before my son was deployed to Afghanistan. I have hiked portions of the Appalachian Trail, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, visited General Sherman in Sequoia National Park and listened to the howling of wolves while I shivered (or trembled) in my campsite in Yosemite National Park. I've shared an elevator with Bill Cosby and conversation over a cup of coffee with Lacy J. Dalton in Atlantic City. I didn't care for Las Vegas, but I loved California--especially sea cave kayaking in La Jolla. I've gone parasailing from the laid-back Caribbean island of Lucaya and from a bustling marina in San Diego, California.
When I'm not conducting research, I'm riding my 750 Honda Shadow, kayaking, buying shoes online or jewelry on eBay, studying quantum or galactic physics, globe-trotting or persuing some outdoor acitvity. My best friends have tails, ...Expand for more
I sleep with my teddy bear and my cat and my favorite source of relevant information is the AARP Bulletin. And, I believe I may be nearing a crossroads on that grand journey that is life. The Neanderthal, with whom I co-habit, has become sullen and querulous--likely an artifact of his advancing age. As a result, my domestic situation has become strained and I am betwixt and between. Shall I stay or shall I go. Hmmm, I believe that's a line from Girl Interrupted. I'm on the fence. Stay tuned.
Do do do, dada da da, okay . . . it has been some time since I have updated this post and since those bygone meanderings, I have been doing some thinking. And some planning. I have never done things in the traditional manner. Why start now? Anyway, the way I see it, the life I want to have lived is the one that will allow me to smile, while on my deathbed--my days numbered. So, I asked myself, "Self, before you die, what is it that you will like most to have accomplished? What is that one thing, that if you do not do it, you will forever regret?" The answer is one that I have been contemplating for some time now. For a long time, it seemed impossible. But it's not impossible. Difficult, undoubtedly. Impossible, no. Others have done it, though most who attempt it do fail. I could fail. But the possibility of failure has never been something I have let stand in my way. So, despite the fact that others, including my brothers Bob and Ron, have tried to caution me against it, I have decided to . . . (will finish this after I get in touch with my financier/sponsor) until that time, it is probably best not to go public.
Much in my life has changed since that last paragraph: I am no longer gainfully employed (a direct result of being stubbornly truthful); I have taken on the ties that bind and said, "I do," though I burst out laughing during the stuffy solemnities; and I have embarked on a new business venture. I hiked 140 miles of the Appalachian Trail in just the last few months, but joint problems and parasites (of the human persuasion) found me desperate to get home. I'm not done with the trail, but completing it will require renewed planning and commitment.
Who would have thought that just a few short years since the above paragraph, I would be happy about having lost that horrible job. That was a bit of good luck disguised as something else, at the time. Now, employed both full and part time (and wishing that I could get more time off), I am able to plan for a very sunny retirement forecast, while also enjoying a few weeks of globetrotting each year. Life is good. It does look like I'll have to put off that thru hike, until after retirement. Until then, I'll continue to be a section hiker (though it pains me to have to admit that). This fall I hope to complete the 88 mile stretch through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I'm hoping not to have any bear encounter this time, as my last two hikes saw bears in camp. And though bear spray may be one's best defense against a bear attack, one must be able to stop shaking long enough to aim the canister. I thought I was tough and could hold my own in a bear encounter. Umm, no. I shook like a bowl of Jello and knew that I was doomed if the bear had a mind to chomp me in two. Luckily for me, the bear might have been as spooked as I was and left without the spray needing to be deployed. I am both afraid of and enchanted by bears. I have spent hours reading about all the fatal bear attacks in North America and even listening to various bear vocalizations and what they mean and even watching bear videos on You Tube. That, by the way, is where I first learned about Cabin Fever Vacations located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I watched a You Tube video of a bear swatting at a vacationer, who avoided the bear's claws, by dint of the fact that he was saved by the cabin's deck railing. As the vacationer's camera viewfinder canvassed the area, I caught a glimpse of the plaque on the side of the cabin's exterior; it read "Cabin Fever Vacations." Well, I began to search the Internet immediately. I found the Web site and knew at once that a Cabin Fever Vacation was in my future. Last October I stayed at "A Desire Fulfilled" cabin and I can honestly say that it changed my life. I believe it helped me solidify my retirement plans. I love the country, the tranquility, solitude, nature, and rustic luxury. Reminds me of a favorite Crystal Gayle tune . . . "And if you saw my home in Tennessee, Tennessee, that's where you'd be. No finer place than this I've yet to see, that's my home, sweet Tennessee."
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