Elissa Bassett:  

Update as of August 20,2008.... Life has been hectic and wonderful at the same time since I first wrote this. I did go out to California,twice to watch my Grandson,Walter V,and stayed 8 months the first time and 7 months from last september to March,2008. 3 days before I was to come back to Texas my Mom's apt. caught fire and now she lives here with my husband,Stephen,and I in Forney,Texas. Daughter Jordan turned 21 and is out on her own,doing well. Had to go through the "empty nest thing",for awhile,but I'm glad Jordan is trying out life on her own turns,and I have my mom with me. This coming January walter V will get a baby sister,so it will be back to San Francisco to help out and take my little Walter to the toy store and Library!! I did get to talk to H.S. BFF,Debby Fields/Barnett and we are going to go to lunch soon. Here's my original story... I am the proud mom of 4 kiddos- 3 natural and one who came with her daddy when I married him. I had my daughter at 16 so I've been through ups & downs in my life as did my children,however we all seem to be prospering now. I had 3 weddings where I was "mother of the bride or groom in 2 years and last July 20th,05 I became a Nana when my son Walter and his beautiful wife,Michelle blessed me with a 10+ lb. baby boy. In the tradition of his dads family,he is Walter Edmund Brill the fifth!! That's a heavy name to lay on a kid, but he can pull it off. Back in the early 90's I fulfilled a lifelong ambition to go to Mortuary College and become an embalmer and funeral director. Unfortunately I came down with Chronic Fatigue/Fibromyalgia and was forced to put everything on the back burner. I have done alot of volunteering in the last decade. I worked as a Court Appointed Special Representative for abused children,did homless advocacy, and something anybody who knew me growing up would find more unbelievable than the embalming-- Civillian Police Coordinator for the Concord,California Police Dept! I helped them get people to get re-involved with their neighborhoods and spoke in front of the Police Academy on how we civillians could be better served. At times the police volunteering was kind of dicey as some of the police didn't want to do 'community policing", and so I was a symbol of change some did not want. Then there was the factor that I was starting up neighborhood watch meetings in an area that was rife with drugs and prostitution, so I was creating waves,I'll tell you. I enjoyed all of it though because I wanted to show my children that just because we didn't have much did not mean we couldn't make a difference in our way of life. It was a fluke my getting reunited with my current husband,Stephen Bassett. My kid sister helped me surf the net and get signed up on Classmates .com ...Expand for more