Catherine Farnham:  

Life Hello to all! I finished nursing school in 1975 and have worked in that field ever since. Currently I'm enjoying working in Public Health, in which the newest Cabinet office- Homeland Security- has made quite a few changes in recent years! To achieve my state certification in public health I have returned to college to earn my Bachelor's Degree in Nursing. As I live in Hollister, which has only a part-time extension of a community college, I enrolled in a specialized RN to BSN Distance Learning program at CSU Chico; I'll be graduating in May 2007! I have the same four children I shared about at our 20th Reunion; they are now ages 24-30; all with partners. After the reunion I married the man who was my date for the event; he had three children, so I raised a second family, for a total of seven children! The youngest two are off at college- San Diego State and San Jose State, so we're a household of 4 with three in school. Actually, so is my eldest stepdaughter, in graduate school at Santa Clara University, but she's older enough to be an "independent" rather than a "dependent" student- those of you with children in college- you know what I mean! So, it will be pay-off-student-loans time for several years before I can really work on retirement planning. And I'm looking forward to enjoying more time with my husband now that we've metriculated to the next stage of family life, with all of the children out of the family home. Yes, I'm a grandma! My third daughter is married and has two little girls, ages two and six- in Kindergarten! Ah, how quickly the years pass! I don't get to see as much of them as I would wish, as my son-in-law is stationed at Fort Bragg, and North Carolina is a long way away. He's back in "school" now, training for Special Forces. He was deployed to Kuwait when he was in the 101st Infantry, then to Iraq two years ago when in Psychological Operations. Unfortunately, he had the opportunity to be awarded with a Purple Heart when he was wounded on Easter weekend when an IED blew up his humvee. He healed quickly from the schrapnel wounds, but it took a while for the concussion and hearing loss to resolve. I'm a bit concerned about more serious damage now with all the recent attention being given to traumatic brain injury; his was definitely traumatized! But he is achieving well in Special Forces trainin...Expand for more