Debbi Jacklin:  

Life I was widowed on April 28, 2005 at 4:10 p.m. to the love of my life, Tom Jacklin, otherwise known as Dr. "J". He was my fourth and final husband. The Chinese have a wonderful saying: "May you live in interesting times," and my life has been filled with them. I left Western in October of my senior year to get married (BIG MISTAKE), but I was a hippie/dippie/road freak and didn't see the importance of an education until I had a chance to grow up a bit. Our marriage was annulled, and I wound up in the Navy from 1974-1980 (big change). I was in boot camp when Nixon stepped down as President, and it was a tremendous shock. Shortly after boot camp, I was stationed in Orlando, Florida, and met my second husband and the father of my only child -- Justin McConnell, who will be 29 on June 5th of this year. I got out of the Navy in 1980 (they don't issue husbands or children in your sea bags -- darn it) and moved back to Baltimore after having lived all over the world for the past 6-1/2 years. I went back to school and earned my A.A. degree in 1981 and then proceeded to Towson University hoping to get my BA in psychology. Life got in the way, and I had to drop out in my final semester to spend more time with my son -- at the time, I was working two part-time jobs, going to school full-time and being a single mother. In 1986, I finally found a way to buy my own home, although it wasn't in the best neighborhood. I worked four jobs at a time, one of which was my own business, preparing manuscripts for typesetting, and doing other types of secretarial work. I maintained that pace for thirteen years, when at the age of 16, my son decided to leave the School for the Arts and move to Norfolk to live with his father. 1994 was a busy year and I married again, this time to my best male friend of 25 years. That was another big mistake. Our friendship remained intact, but he was definitely not marriage material. I left him in 1997, and two weeks later met T...Expand for more