Shelli Alford:  

My life so far. My husband Neil and I were married for 20 years in this photo taken September 2007. This was our fourth time walking down the aisle together. The first time I planned everything. The last three times Neil (the most unromantic man on the planet) planned and executed every detail. I think he still has some residual guilt about our first wedding. He had a panic attack the day before the wedding and decided I was going to spend all his money and he couldn't marry me. As you can imagine that went over really well. Anyway, we did end up walking down the aisle together the next day. I forgave him immediately, but I don't think he has forgiven himself. Getting married is fun for me and it reminds us to step back and appreciate where we have been and where we are going. The kids in the photo are our kids. Winston is 17 and Grace is 13 now. We live in a suburb of Philadelphia called Bryn Mawr. My Mom has a successful practice as an organizational psychologist. She is remarried to a man who is 51. My husband Neil is 53. My Mom and Chris have been married for 10 years and he could not love my kids more than if he were their biological grandfather. My Dad is remarried and still living in Houston. He no longer sails, but is into biking with my sister. My sister Stacie is a child therapist and has one daughter Katie 21 and she also still lives in Houston. She is a cycling mad woman. She races in 100+ mile races and is in phenomenal shape! After high school I went to SWTSU. I stayed there for 2 years and then transfered to NTSU. I stayed there for 2 years, then ended up returning to SWTSU for another year to finish my degree. I think I graduated with 160 hours. After college I had a hard time finding a job in something I liked. My Dad (probably being tired of supporting me) made some phone calls and I had 5 interviews in one day with Shell Oil. Shell transferred me to Delaware where they gave me a territory of 36 stations in Southern New Jersey. A woman that worked for me had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. I used to go over to her house every night hang out and eat dinner. (Not a lot of women in the oil industry in those days.) Anyway, one night a guy came over that she had gone to college with and that is how I met my husband. I quit Shell after a year and went to work for a jobber buying service stations. The oil industry was not my calling. Neil and I married and I started designing and manufacturing a children's clothing line. (This is what my degree was in.) The line sold really well, but it was very difficult to manufacture in the states. I gave that up when we bought our first house. It needed to be remodeled. I fixed it up and then I had our son Winston. Almost 5 years later I had our daughter Grace. About that time...Expand for more