At the age of 12 my family and I visited my brother while he was stationed at Ft. Carson. It was the first time that I ever saw mountains and in my young mind I told myself that one day I would live by these mountains. It is now over 45 years later and I am. But I encountered lifetime of experiences before fulfilling my childhood dream. I am from the Midwest, a flatlander. I have been a probation officer, an explosive detection trainer, a trainer for an inmate telephone company, a research analyst, and an instructor at a college here in Colorado Springs. I have travelled the world, dined at the 125 year old mansion of the former Chicago Bears' owner George Halas, and waded in the Bohol Sea. I have experienced a number of tragedies - I survived a haunting divorce, endured a 35 year ordeal which started with my father getting shot and killed when I was 22 years old, and there are many others. But I have always fought back - with the help of my magnetic Colorado mountains I have come full circle - and now, I am living once more.