Lori

Passed the California Bar.

Took a 25 foot cab ride.

Turned my back on great opportunities.

Loved, love and will love my son.

Built a house that is too big to be a home.

Lori, age 41

Vicky

Overcame childhood poverty.

Adopted a child.

Survived cancer.

Rode my old bike 65 miles in 110 F degree temperature with hubby.

Shared how to have a relationship with Christ with others.

Vicky

Kristen

I cracked a hard-boiled egg on the Colosseum in Rome.
I used to love to run.
I once was obsessed with the game craps, and made craps sets for everyone in my family for Christmas gifts.
I was a passenger in a 1958 Oldsmobile that drove from Oakland, CA to Portland, OR overnight so the driver could turn in her final paper for class.
I sang a song in my grade-school variety show called Peanut Butter and Jelly in 3rd grade.

Kristen, age 42

Gwen

Born and brought up in Ottawa, Ontario.
Moved away for 20 years and traveled with the Military.
Fell in and out of love too many times.
Never looked or acted my age.
Love to babysit and dog sit.

Gwen, age 57

Philip

Taught english in a small village school in the Republic of Georgia.
Stopped drinking alcohol.
Helped my Uncle Mike thru the last year of his life (he was my age, died of the cancer.)
Lost faith in my art.
Moved (again.)

Philip, age 56

Douglas

I wanted to grow up to be a pilot.
I left the nest with great expectations.
I lived under a bush in the woods.
I started over again.
I rented an apartment.

Douglas, age 50

Sandi

Became a mother of 3 fantastic kids.
First person in my family to get a masters degree.
Funded my own education.
Raised a princess pumpkin.
Traveled to 8+ countries with more on the bucket list!

Sandi

Audrey

I was born and raised on a chicken farm in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and helped my Mom and Dad collect and candle the eggs.
I discovered through a black and white negative developed afterward exactly where Socrates had walked, taught and held philosophical discourses in Athens.
I climbed Mount Olympus behind a mule pack after a snow storm.
I adopted 2 life-long companions (my cats, Nounou and Champagne), found among thorny bushes outside a stone windmill house on a Greek Island.
I experienced war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia as a UN photographer during the period of Black Hawk Down.

Audrey

Teri

I was diagnosed dyslexic and designated Educationally Handicapped in third grade, and became the first in my family to earn 3 associate's degrees and attend University (my grandfather had a third grade education.)

I took acid.

I ran off with the circus.

I became a union stage technician in LA.

I am with my amazing husband of 20 years.

Teri, age 47

JoAnn

I learned more by living my life than studying for it in college.

I lost my soul to a poodle.

I built a successful insurance agency from scratch.

I rented a limo and pretended to be Carly Simon's back up band (who was in town playing.)

I never give up.

JoAnn

Hawk

Tried to kill myself.

Made myself proud by becoming a published Alternative model.

Partied with celebrities.

Raised my best friend/son, Weeko, from a pup.

Met the love of my life, lost the love of my life.

Hawk, age 25

Eleanor

Battled wind.

Fell off a horse.

Flew.

Met a National Geographic photographer.

Played Guitar

Eleanor, age 15

Michelle

I was born.

I gave my mom hell everyday of my teens.

I fell in love with a 1978 Camaro.

I spawned two punkrats...and love then more than my luggage!

I live. now. everyday.

Michelle, age 36

Ernest

I was a volunteer firefighter for six years, with multiple ranks including Chief Arson Investigator. I helped secure the conviction of a man for burning down a church.

I led police on a high speed pursuit, with speeds up to 150mph. I never spent time in jail for my crime.

I flew from Chicago to San Francisco for a date.

I talked someone out of committing suicide.

I performed rock music in Peru, South America in front of 2500 people.

Ernest, age 43

Jane

I parachuted out of an airplane at 3,000 feet - and lived to tell about it.

I said "No" to Steve McQueen.

I designed a cottage inside a 10,000 sq. ft. horse barn utilizing four 12'x12' stalls for the downstairs rooms.

I went to law school 16 years after getting my BA in English - hated it/never practiced law.

I prepared a barely edible dinner for 12 at the request of a friend hosting a birthday party for her mother - and years later was a successful caterer.

Jane, almost 64

Snarko

Accidentally flashed a priest.

Jumped 60 feet off a cliff at Paleface into water (lesson: cross your legs!)

Run the entire political campaign, David Van Os for Texas State Attorney General, nearly single-handedly.

Created my own tarot deck based on Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Dyed my hair every color of the rainbow, and still do.

Snarko, age 40

Sarah

I dropped out of H.S. and got my GED.

I was addicted to crack and heroin.

I had a baby when I was 19.

I went to college, and dropped out.

I healed.

Sarah, age 29

Mireya

1982 I invent an Easy Easel, an Easy paint Keeper palette and World on waves sculpture.

2000 I design and create the First Gallery in Motion.

2003 I created an Art Museum

2005 I created the First Art Mobile Museum in USA.

2007 I create the First Art Installation with a non-toxic floating painting cubes.

Mireya, age 73

Lisa

Won money on a TV game show.

Was the first person in my family to obtain a Bachelors Degree.

Had a baby.

Found the love of my life.

Recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, TN.

Lisa, age 57

Patti

I was a military child and lived in the Philippine Islands twice while growing up.

I went to 13 schools in 12 years.

I clean houses for a living.

I sell my mosaic and stained glass art.

I am the leader of the Military Brats Street Team group on etsy.com

Patti, age 56

Jeanne

I developed arthritis in my early 20's (after I was married to my first husband) which made me finally realize that life is short and I better get busy and make a mark in this life or I would not live a worthy life.

After receiving my bachelors degree in art, I received a divorce from my ex-husband, because he fell in love with one of his students, therefore I decided to go to grad school for art.

I had my first child (Lucas the biggest love of my life) at 42 and have raised him on my own.

At 46 I married my second husband, Michael, and for the second time developed a severe case of arthritis.

I have continued to be an artist.

Jeanne, age 47

Valerie

Rescued donuts from the dumpster under the cover of darkness.

Sipped cocktails with the supreme court.

Quit my real job to be a road manager for a rock band.

Walked the plains of Africa.

Caught my backdoor neighbor dancing in his tighty whiteys....

Valerie, age 41

Kristen

At 23 I cared for my mother who was ill with cancer and watched her die.

At 24 I got married.

At 26 I had my first baby.

At 28 I had my second baby.

This morning for breakfast I made coffee, eggs, oatmeal. green smoothies and cut up apples and grapes.

Kristen, age 29

Jessica

Disappointed everyone by dropping out of high school 3 months before graduation.

After 9 months of working dead-end jobs I got accepted to 3 Universities with my nearly perfect GED scores.

I watched my mother grow from a single teen mother to mature woman, now married with 4 other children.

Wasted 8 yrs being really depressed and blinded by immature thoughts of suicide.

Realized one day that I was surprised to be still alive and astonished by what I've accomplished.

Jessica, age 20

Robert

Returning from the Peace Corps I crossed the stormy sea from Columbia to Panama in a canoe with some albino Indians from San Bias.

Escaped from a military prison in Washington State and fled to Mexico where I met my wife.

While meditating in Bombay (now Mumbai) had a vision of Jesus.

Had a second vision of him in the Anza Borrego desert of California and made translations of the four Gospels from a pacifist-Unitarian viewpoint.

In 2011, walked through a biker's street party in Sarasota Florida admist curses and death threats carrying a sign that said, "God hates wars and those who fight them."

Robert, age 68

Roly Chang Barrero

I was a member of ACT-UP (The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power).

I traveled the world as a flight attendant for United.

I earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

I opened an ART Gallery in Boynton Beach Florida called ActivisArtistA.

I fell in love with a man named Gil.

Roly Chang Barrero, age 49

Charlene

Caregiver who watched the terrible disease of Cancer take away the love of my life, my husband.

Educator of Middle School and Graduate students, who can hopefully make a difference in the lives of my students.

Received the Make a Difference Award as one of the Top Ten Teachers in 1999 from the Anti-Defamation League.

Learned to accept my family for who they are and have realized that I define who I am by my own actions and not by what others may think.

Keeps a journal to record my feelings of joys and sadness.

Charlene, age 54

Anne

Made models of "The Life Cycle of the Cat Flea" in polyester resin for the Australian Museum.

Worked radio tracking Grey-headed Flying Foxes while also foster-caring kangaroo joeys.

Danced with the Early Dance Consort for 20 years, and got to dance in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall with the music of the Brandenburg Orchestra.

Married a wonderful man and had 2 gorgeous children.

Wrote and illustrated a children's book on endangered species.

Anne, age 50

(Anne's list is in chronological order.)

Erika

Learned to wind surf in the English Channel.

Left my fiance, even though part of me still belongs to him.

Had pinup photos of myself taken (and they are hot.)

Have posed naked for artists, and seen their drawings of me exhibited in galleries.

Packed everything I owned into a 14 foot U-Haul, drove 8 hours by myself to a place I'd never been before, to follow my dream of getting my MFA.

Erika, age 25

Alex

Committed to a dog.

Fell in love. Then out. And then fell again. And then out.

Left 100 teacups on a city street.

Stood in Tienanmen Square when I was 20 and realized how small I was.

Stayed optimistic.

Alex, age 28

Michelle

I heard the angels speak to me on a bridge in Venice.

I have encountered spirits both good and bad.

I have known moments of pure joy.

I survived a childhood of domestic violence.

I have learned to listen to God's voice.

Michelle, age 49

Meg

Laid a loving kiss on my dead mother's cool cheek.

Ate a sashimi slice of my firstborn's placenta.

Avoided detention by men with machine guns at the then newly non-communist Uzbekistan airport.

Rode in a monster truck.

After a lifetime of wanting to, wrote a book, and then another one!

Meg, age 45

Tom

Calculated all the cars' number plates on my walk to school.

Got arrested at student protests on both sides of the Tasman Sea (and for being "illegally on a building site".)

Cycled 1,400 kilometers from a small town called Moron to a smaller town, also called Moron.

Shook David Hasselhoff''s hand.

Moved in with my girlfriend.

Tom, age 32

Zane

Sired two beautiful children.

Stood in the same room with Nelson Mandela, and wept when the Internationale played.

Built back line speaker cabinets for John "the Ox" Entwistle.

Crossed the equator many (too many to count) times.

Caught the bus to work this morning.

Zane

Jennifer

I was a NYC bike messenger for 5 years.

I worked as a dog walker in NYC.

I went a little crazy.

I fell in love, several times.

I had my heart broken.

Jennifer, age 39

Alan

Tried to kill myself.

Faked it till I made it out of psych hospital.

Tried to kill myself again.

Woke up and realized everything had changed.

Understood that death is nothing to gain.

Alan, age 28

Chioma

Climbed the Eiffel Tower.

Built a school in Tanzania for charity.

Sang in my friend's funeral.

Spent more than 60 pounds on body products all in one transaction.

On Valentine's Day, gave a rose to my tutor who I refer to as the grandfather/guardian I've never had.

Chioma, age 21

Noelle

Got married to afford art school.

Saw my dad die in a trailer full of relatives I never met.

Threw a tiara at a cashier.

Took naughty photos in high school for art class and got suspended.

Had a baby.

Noelle, age 26

Lucie

Have wished my sister didn't have a disability.

Ran a marathon.

Traveled around the world with a backpack full of books I couldn't bear to leave behind.

Seen a loved one dying.

Felt I could never love again.

Lucie, age 24

Debra

Fell in love with someone who taught me to live for each day.
Followed the sun to California.
Traveled to the Amazon rain-forest at age 12 and basked in the glory of the wilderness.
Learned I have the potential to be successful at everything I do.
Cried a lot of tears, ate a lot of donuts, cooked a lot of meals for people I love.

Debra B, age 29

Sherri

Worked in Yosemite as my first job away from home.

Followed the Grateful Dead on tour across the US.

Was an Avionics Technician in the Navy.

Lived in a Tipi.

Sold lots of my paintings.

Sherri, age 42

Laura Jean

I broke my neck and 17 teeth, all at once.

I drove my car 130 mph.

I left home at age 18 with $500 and didn't look back.

I drove a 1967 Volvo from Montana to Massachusetts.

I herded 1,000 goats in the mountains.

Laura Jean, age 27

Stephanie

Entered a morgue on a dare in Puebla, Mexico claiming to know someone who died and "needing" to ID their body.

Swam with urethra fish in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Broke my back.

Traveled alone to Cali, Columbia at age 25.

Gone into countless homes of unknown people as a teen parent social worker.

Stephanie, age 32

Todd

Found life after a crushing divorce.

Accepted responsibility for two other people's 'mistake'.

Said goodbye to both parents by the age of 23 (I'm the oldest of 4 siblings).

Nearly died at the age of 15 from appendicitis due to which I now have no bellybutton.

Served time in jail for ticking off a judge.

Todd, age irrelevant

Eileen

Sang a solo on TV at age 7.

Walked halfway across a frozen river.

Received a Ph.D. from Harvard.

Adopted my son in Bogota, my daughter in Pacific NW.

Wrote and published book of drawings and poems.

Eileen, age 66

Mels

Laughed in the ocean.

Ate many fancy cupcakes.

Broke a few hearts.

Felt lonely.

Laid in the delicious sunshine.

Mels, age 24

Brandon

Learned to fly a plane.

Jumped out of a plane.

Passed out face down in the shadow of death.

Found God.

Found a wife.

Brandon, age 28

Meghan

I made cheese for a living.

I healed my back after a herniated disc...mostly.

I survived a break-in and sexual assault.

I lived on an island for two years.

I wrote and published a book.

Meghan, age 30

Susan

I had 5 children, one adopted.

Was a foster parent for 4 years.

I am an artist-painter, potter, and play with glass.

I finished a two-year degree.

I built many walls in my house.

Susan, age 48

Ulrich

Ordained as Shingon Japanese Buddhist Priest.

Published 15 books on Philosophy.

Sold my paintings for more the US $1 million.

Ordained Orthodox Christian Priest.

Became a religious hermit monk.

Ulrich