Debbie Anatole:  

Life After moving to Arizona the summer of my junior year I thought my life was over. Leaving my boyfriend, my first love of my life and all my friends I had grown up with. It wasn't easy to go through such a change. The first year at a new high school was tough and it's tough enough just to be sixteen! The people were so different here in the West. But,the weather was gorgeous. I felt yes, "I think I can handle this"! The first year even through the winter I didn't even wear a sweater, how cool was that? I'm sure it was cold for the natives, but not this Connecticut yankee. I soon became acclimated to the weather, the people and the territory. The best thing was my dad bought me a horse. I didn't really think there were still Indians in Arizona but I was wrong. I would ride through the river bottom where the Indians lived in small shacks. They would threaten to shoot us if we rode near their property. Now I can say, oh, those were the days, but then I was flying in front of the dust. I finished High School and got my CNA license. I had gotten a great job in Tucson, Arizona in the neuro-cardio ward. I did eeg's and echo-sonograms and ekg's. It was an intense job at times, but I loved helping people feel better. When I was twenty my Dad became very ill so I moved near the hospital in Phoenix to be close to him. I felt so bad seeing my Dad so sick, knowing that moving here was his dream. Today I'm ten years older that he was when he lost his life. It's terrible, his life was really just getting started. At that time,it was meant for me to be living in Phoenix. because I met my husband Michael. We moved to California the day after we got married in 1974. He was and still is a Musician. He and I went to College together and I worked as a massage therapist for about 25 years. This gave me my daylight hours to pursue my horse hobby. My massage...Expand for more