Sheryl Zaiko:  

. I moved from Dallas to Allen in 2007 to be near by daughter and her family. My son lives in Jacksonville, FL and I love to go to visit him. He is my best vacation partner. I have two grandchildren, One just graduated from NTSU and started her teaching career .. teaches at Richardson High School.. My grandson attended UTD and graduated in 2020.. Life is sure different now than when I was a teenager. Would not change my age or the times I was raised in for anything. Maybe a few things.. not music! I love to write short stories and finished almost 200 pages of my personal memoirs. I am adding to it all the time. Both my son and daughter have enjoyed reading some of the stories and have expressed thanks for writing them. When I write about myself, I am less inhibited than I would be just retelling some of these stories. Since I have a very small family, I don't have a bunch of relatives to sit and reminisce with, so sitting down at the computer serves as a catalyst for my recall. It is amazing what you can actually remember when you try. Early in February, 2009, I had to have my little pug put down. She was just 2 months from her 16th birthday. One week later, my daughter Lisa was feeling so sad for me, she took me to the McKinney ASPCA, as they had almost 50 dogs as part of a raid of several puppy mills in Sparta, Tennessee. The actual number was around 200, of which some went to New York, Dallas and McKinney. I went just to appease my daughter. However, I saw a little black Pug sitting in a large enclosure with another dog. She appeared to be scared to death, and was one of the last puppies to be picked. (They were exhibiting about 30 dogs at a time due to capacity.) I stood, rooted to the spot, not able to leave her. I really had no intention of getting any dog that day as I w...Expand for more