Gwen S. Elissalde Mugliston:  

ures when we really should have died. But saintly? I doubt it. Being the wave ahead of the baby boomers, we find ourselves, for the most part, reluctantly entering into "older age". I ponder this...I still can run, raft class 4 and 5 rapids, climb mountains and I do this even though I have a problem occasionally with MS. All of us have "something". Does it halt us from achieving? Somehow I doubt it...there are many ways to achieve happiness and that is what I think we should talk about. At this point in our lives we should be trying to make sense of all our life...the good, the bad, the bad and the absolutely magnificent. We can help each other do this job...if we trust each other. How do you achieve happiness? How do you achieve inner peace and serenity? Earlier this year (2006): It is going to be very nice being able to talk with those of you I knew as a high schooler. Tanette Jaloff was one of my favorite teachers (and I still write poetry) and our physics teacher (why can't I remember his name?!?) was stellar. It was due to that great physics teacher that I was able to do the math and physics for one of my undergraduate degrees. I would never have made an A in physical chemistry if it hadn't been for him. It might even have been for him that I had the courage to finally go to school! He was one of about 4 teachers who believed I had two connecting neurons in my head. Katherine Flanagan and Mrs. Buttner (history) at Tam were the other two! I am interested in what philosophical explanation any of you can put to our lives. We all came from such disparate backgrounds, with widely differing spiritual and religious backgrounds...connecting in a singular 2 to 4 year period. Some of you, I am sure, married classmates. Others, like me, disappeared off the map. Tell me about you if you have time and energy now in the latter years of our lives. You might have time; I do, now, for the first time in all these years. I am continuing to work but part time. School Would you do high school over? Never! I might do my life over if I could change a few critical events! But, gee, if it hadn't been for four great teachers in high school, I might never have had the fun I have had in my life! Very seriously, those four people were critical to my beginning maturation. The first two were at Tamalpais High: Katherine Flanagan who taught Biology and Ms Buttner who taught history and at Sir Francis that would be Ms Tanette Jaloff and our Stellar Physics Teacher who came to us from Annapolis. What was his name? Another thing I remember about high school was how I felt about my friends. I still feel warm, fuzzies and still wonder how you have done and what you have done...and I always hope you are happy. College Unlike many of you, my college years didn't start at a normal time or go at a normal pace. College began for me when I was 30, married with three kids, a housefull of Siamese and a lovely boxer and parakeets. The GI Bill and being able to test out of a year of biology and English started an accelerated progam that ended ten years later after I had earned two BSs, my DVM and my PhD at Texas A&M. My dissertation was on a particular hemoprotozooan of cattle that causes clinical signs and labs in cattle similar to Plasmodium falciparum in people. After working with people with AIDs and in hospice in the 80's, I went back to school and got my MSN as a family nurse practioner at the UT-Austin. I do now work in academia (I can't seem to really stay away from academia) at the Univ of New Mexico where I teach long distance from PA in their graduate nursing program. Workplace Interesting title "workplace". Most of you are probably retired as I am, partially. [I have to leave this for awhile.] Military Well, I keep forgetting to hit the "Update" button...this is the second time for this segment...yes, I did join the Navy. Yes, I survived the sexual harrassment and went on to use the GI Bill after I was honorably discharged to help me get my first BS. Actually, being trained as an aviation electronics technician enabled me to get various jobs throughout my life. It's handy today to be able to wire my house, set up my phone systems, etc. So, it wasn't all bad at all. Would I repeat it? I doubt it!