Lisa Nance:  

I'm enjoying life to its fullest or at least giving it some attention and effort. At the moment I'm midway through my longest vacation, 10 weeks. I wish I could say I got this long just for fun, as it's the longest I've taken in 28 years. One to two weeks are all I usually allow myself and lots of extended weekend trips. This summer, having chosen a little surgery in July, I've taken my six weeks recoup and then added on vacation in a fell swoop, three + weeks. My husband, Joe, and I have opted to go to MN, a 4-night Royal Carribbean Mexico shorty cruise, and in late September a jaunt in CA to boot for a concert! I'll have some work in snippets in between trips, but right now I'm on week five and loving it. Whoa, I've even found time to write a story for "Classmates" and planned a home remodel project. A wise man told me that who we are on vacation is who we really are. For years I've defined myself by my work. Interesting concept in philosophy. It's probably quite true. I feel more myself on a relaxing vacation. As I've already gone on at length about my playtime, I'll dwell for a moment on my work life. I'm a court reporter by profession. I love it and wouldn't want to do anything else that I can think of, in particular. I started court reporting in 1980 as soon as I turned 19 and could get my notary. It's a three, four-year program, but I lucked out and was allowed to double it up and get elective high school credits for the private court reporting school, so I went through it while finishing high school. People may know me from my various schools and some will more memorably remember me from kicking back and laughing with me through it all and, yes, laughing at it all and at myself. Court reporting isn't for everyone, but it's been great for me, type A and a multi-tasker that I am. I'm the one with the funny little machine that takes everything down, as I often describe it. I mosty do depositions but I cover court work on occasion as well as a substitute for reporters out on vacation, sick, or just plain overload with visiting judges or heavy trial calendars. Since I had my first son in high school (I went to Cyesis for a while as in the day they encouraged us off to our own world for that sort of thing, if people think back to the crowd of nonpregnant people on campus). The school district via my mom's intervention set up a special program for me which allowed me to go to Legal Arts of Arizona and take Court Reporting which counted for my electives. If it weren't for that, I would have been set back a few years and ended up doing who knows what. As it was, I graduated one year late from Maryvale and two years early from court reporting school. I had my son in May of my sophomore year, took the summer off, when to Phx Union vocational school taking machine shorthand to try that out my junior year, and I did my required courses via correspondence and those that required attendance at various campuses (I recall one at Central). I had my daughter in my senior year in January. I was primarily in the thick of the mix with people from Desert Sands (Orchestra -- violin) and at Maryvale I suppose it would be orchestra and Thespians, my participation being the orchestra pit. Wizard of Oz stands out brightest. It seemed like I started out all wrong in high school going from straight As for my first eight years plus and then sometime in my freshman or sophomore year having a dip when I gravated to hanging out the wall before school and during breaks, taking lunch at the park, and habitually being late, not literally, but you know what I mean. Well, it was the '70s. I had gone to Sunset for elementary for those that count the tree back that far. Some of my friends were from first grade and we stayed in synch all the way through high school and beyond. My grades went back to the A track once I was pregnant and back to the business of success. Nowadays it seems like lunches and special occasions are the main times to catch up with school friends, that and trips out to visit a special friend out of town, but I long for being better about staying in contact and having more of a social life with friends from "the day" that live in Arizona. Workwise, I've run my own business for 28 years, Nance Reporting. I was truly a sole proprietor entity for 12 years, '86-'98, having four other reporters and several support staff. I went to work for a judge for a couple years then at Maricopa County Superior Court. I only lasted there a couple years as 8:00 to 5:00 bored me to death having been used to the wide variety in days and hours freelance court reporting can provide. Since 2002 I have subbed myself out about 80 percent as an Arizona rep for a national court reporting firm. I love the support staff that provides and not having to do any of the nonreporting aspects. I handle a few private clients I've kept over the years of my own, but it's great to just cover the Arizona needs for Atkinson-Baker, Inc. as an independent contractor. I'm married and happily so to the father of my first son born in 1977. We're coming up on...Expand for more