About the Author

the author, a little younger than she is now

Here you will find information about the person who's doing all this web-work.

If you're wondering what drives me to do all this, you're not the only one! I suppose more than anything there's a genuine desire to share information. I want people to read the stuff about Diana's diagnosis and be helped by it. I want people to read about my experience with the cookbook and be inspired. I would be thrilled beyond imagining if Edward Kelly or one of his family contacted me!

To me, knowledge is something shared. Family is something shared. Thank you for allowing me to share with you.

My interests are wide and varied. I collect - or acquire - things, almost anything: Eggs (from my grandmother), rocks, foreign coins, vintage homemaking books, 1950s cookbooks, female action figures, belly dancing books... there are undoubtedly more, but that's what comes immediately to mind.

I read as widely as I collect. I love cheesy romance novels, certain horror/fantasy series, a few mystery series, children's fantasy, pre-Hellenic Greek history... I read decorating magazines, Victoria (now defunct), digital photography articles, genealogy magazines, Sage Woman... I research online various things, too: autism, genealogy, gardening, photo restoration...

For fun, I love going to Renaissance Faires, and we have costumes (more appropriately called "garb") that we wear when we attend. It's great fun! I couldn't really say that Renaissance reenactment is a hobby, since I don't get to pursue it much, but it is certainly something I enjoy. I like going to movies, too, but mostly we watch movies at home. I am perfectly happy in front of a lovely rubber monster movie (Godzilla, et al.) and we watch a fair amount of sci fi. I really loathe "chick flicks" and most dramas in general. If it even vaguely smacks of soap operas, I am not interested.

To maintain my sanity, I take Middle Eastern dance classes once a week. Sometimes we'll get together on weekends to go see the dancers. It's a great deal of fun, and it's purely "me" time. I hope you will visit my instructor's website (which, incidentally, I designed and maintain).

Diana keeps me pretty busy. I barely have time to get to my housework most of the time (which is what I am avoiding right now). I use my computer-time as down-time. It's where I can access information that interests me, read and write email to friends, and just think.

I have recently begun making artist trading cards. It's a relaxing and theraputic way to spend time, and trade with people all over the world. I am a member of ATCsForAll.com, and it's a fantastic community!

My latest project is a book. I've written and published a book to help people write family cookbooks, Creating an Heirloom: Writing Your Family's Cookbook. It's available now from the publisher, PublishAmerica.com, and is the expansion of a page that began on this site, and grew out of questions and comments received from visitors to that page. It seemed the logical next step to write the book, so I did!

I am hoping to expand upon that in a series of "workbooks" -- expansions of ideas presented in Creating an Heirloom -- but there's no way to know how long that will take me to get completed.

Sometimes, it's hard to think about what the future will hold. There's no way of knowing what Diana will be like in one year, let alone ten or twenty. It's tough to face reality. But I do it every day. When I do things for her that she can't yet do for herself, I don't think "If you were normal, I wouldn't have to do this." We don't use that word - normal - in this house. Diana is normal for herself. If she's not "normal," then she's "abnormal," and that is an unacceptable way to look at it. The world throws us curveballs all the time. I never really think about it, but Mom reminds me all the time: it takes strength and courage to face this challenge. I won't turn my back on this challenge; this is my daughter! Whatever she needs, she will get. Whatever needs to be done, we will do.

I'm no heroine; I'm a Mom, and I love my daughter. I wouldn't trade her for a houseful of other kids who can do everything for themselves, and have no "special needs."

Sometimes it's incredibly wearing... therapy, insurance, school and IEP meetings, lunches she'll eat, suppers that practically fix themselves, housework and laundry. When do I get time for me, when do I get time with my husband? You find time, you just do. Anything else is so unhealthy I don't even know where to start (and I speak from personal experience). You thank The Powers That Be that you have a home and a family, you remind yourself of how very blessed you are, even when it all seems to be going to hell. You tell yourself that the dust is really a protective layer on your furniture and read a book instead. You put the same book down when your spouse is home, and ask how their day was. Or, if both of you work outside the home, you make a point of being together when the kids are in bed.

We will survive this. It's not the end of the world, it's the beginning of a different one.

the author today; photo by Ali Visona