Kris Rothweiler:  

After I graduated, I worked at Dohack's for about another year, then The Breckenridge Hotel, then Schmiezing's in Dogtown. I was there for three years before I got pregnant and quit to have my daughter. We moved to Phoenix when she was almost two and I was 25, for many reasons. I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and when I was 18, I left the religion. St. Louis, and Mehlville in particular, held a ton of bad memories for me, mostly because of growing up as a JW. Phoenix was good to me. I stayed in the restaurant business, as a server, trainer, and occasionally management. It's a decent living and I love it. If I could narrow down my loves into something I could earn a good living with, I'd go back to school in a heartbeat. I met my husband at the first restaurant I worked in when I moved to Phoenix. We were married for 17 years and had a son together. I attended the Burning Man festival last year for the first time. Because of a very odd series of events, I ended up getting stranded in Reno after the festival was over. I always try to turn negative events into positives, and I called my kids who are 24 and 20 to see what they'd think about me staying in Reno for a while and having some adventures. I'd been a wife and mother for so long, living in my little, comfortable box...and I knew if I went back to Phoenix I'd fall right back into that. I stayed at an international hostel in Reno, and met all kinds of nomads from all over the globe. I got the travel bug, and started dreaming. About a month ago, a friend I'd met at the hostel asked if I'd moved up to Tahoe with him to help defray his living costs. I jumped at the chance. I love it here...it's arguably one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on earth. I have a great roommate, a nice little apartment, and I just started a wonderful job as a server at The Hard Rock Cafe, which will be quite lucrative, especially during the summer. I feel like all of my old boundaries have been shattered and are lying in tiny pieces at my feet. This summer, I'm going to learn to water ski, and my daughter is co...Expand for more