First off, I have a confession to make. It was only a few years ago when I finally decided what I wanted to be when I grow up.

I had read Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows when I was 18, and had fallen in love with his animal characters. But I was off to UC Berkeley and didn't give writing another thought for 50 years. After graduating from Cal I began a career in Personnel Management, where I worked in both the public and private sectors - Academic Personnel first in the UCB Chancellor's Office, and then at the Lawrence Hall of Science on the Berkeley campus  - and then Personnel Manager and Office Manager for a large Seattle law firm.

When I retired in 2002, I wanted to do give back to my community and my country. I joined the Board of Directors for the Pacific Northwest USO, where I served on the executive committee for 8 years. I had some health issues around 2014 and reigned from the USO Board. So I soon found myself thinking back to the Wind in the Willows and decided it was time to get crakin’ on a childrens book.