Melinda Horan:  

Life I have two daughters from my husband's previous marriage and have raised them since they were very young. The eldest, at 32 is engaged and the younger is 31 and was married last May. Currently, we are working on the final renovation of our house (a proj. that was thought to take a few months and cost less than 10K)and it has been 6 months of living in the kitchen and bedroom (and alot more $$$)! I have done all of the rip-out and painting myself and am looking forward to decorating the interior, sewing new drapes, etc. For "fun" (there is work involved with sailing!) we sail on the Hudson River every opportunity that we can get...unfortunately, "upkeep" on a 40 yr. old boat is very time consuming but well worth it when she is looking like the "grand lady" that she is. She was custom built in Cape Cod, has lots of wood and a big cockpit that can hold 10 people (we are rarely short of eager passengers)! I met my husband of 26 yrs. while we were both working for a petrochemical R&D facility as bench chemists. Since then, our careers have branched out. Husband works for a major analytical instrumentation co. as a LIMS and product specialist with emphasis on software design and product development. I am now a certified industrial hygienist, own my own consulting business and specialize in health, safety and environment for industry, academic institutions and Superfund sites (regulatory compliance for OSHA and EPA). It is essentially evaluating personal exposures to chemical and physical hazards. It is challenging and keeps me very busy with research and travel (and meetings, report generation, liason with regulators, and "putting out fires"...very frustrating)! My husband commutes to CT, 98 miles each way, and the traffic is horrific (usually 2.5 hours each way). We rarely see each other and often do not sit down to eat until 9PM each night. Probably why we have stayed together for so long. Our dogs, adopted from the animal shelter as pups, suffer the most: one is shepherd, hound, collie mix and the other (that I thought was going to be a lab) has grown to be a whiny pit bull mix. Both dogs are extremely loveable and gentle, but at 90 lbs. each, they scare any visitors that come to the house! They really aren't good watch dogs since they will jump and lick any stranger that they meet (LOL)! Most of my family still live close by in the village of Sloatsburg, Suffern and Warwick. We bought the house that I lived in when I went to SHS and it is still considered as the "family homestead". Until recently, all family holidays have been celebrated here so I had some respite from entertaining this past Thanksgiving and Xmas. This coming season will be a different story now that the renovation is near completion. I am looking forward to entertaining again...I love to cook and no one ever refuses an invite....excluding family, they don't need an invitation. In fact, our house has an "open door" policy (no knocking or door bell) just walk right in. Most of my family spends the summers on our deck and swimming in the pool. My old friends at SHS/college have an "open invitation" to visit us anytime...just call me first so I have a chance to remember who you are....getting old and my memory isn't what it use...Expand for more