Hello! My name is KAT. I thought I'd tell you a bit about myself. I'm 50 y/o (born July 16th), female, married to a wonderful 57 y/o man (born April 26th) & currently reside in Riverside, CA. with my wonderful family. I'm 5'8", green eyes, dark brunette hair. I have 3 children & 3 grandchildren. I'm originally from Boston, MA. (Mattapan area for those who are in the local city area). I was born to my parents, Arthur & Adele & raised in Boston by my dad, until he died on August 26th at the age of 57 from complications of diabetes. That was a very hard time for me. I was very close to my dad & he was the only parent I really knew. My only other sibling is my brother, Arthur Jr., who is almost 2 years older than me. I guess we both had our different ways of coping with the situation. Arthur went to college to study forestry in Flagstaff, AZ. after my dad's death. He's the woodsy-nature-type. I'm the city-gal-type. We are very different from each other in many ways. We have never really been close as far as relationship goes. I had a much harder time of coping after my dad died. I kinda fell apart emotionally & had no clear vision of the future at that time in my life. I was not raised with my mother & my only brother was leaving town, so I was sort of orphaned shortly after turning 17 y/o. After my dad's death, I moved to Minneapolis, MN. with my then BF, now husband's family, on his dad's side. His parents were divorced. His dad lived in Minneapolis & offered to have us come there; his mom moved there from Boston shortly after we did. I just wanted to get away from Boston & all my memories there, so I agreed to go. Johnny was originally from Denver, CO., but moved to Boston as a teen with his mom & 13 other siblings (Big family, huh?). I stayed with his family until I turned 18. We then got a home of our own. I had my daughter, Sophia, on May 18th, 2 months before I turned 18. She is now 27 y/o & actively in the Navy. We lived in Minneapolis for several years after that. I had my son, Gregory, there also on February 11th, a few years later. He is 25 y/o now, single, no kids, but has a current GF. We were "legally" married on May 30, 1983, after being separated shortly after the birth of our son for 4 years. That was the most painful time in my entire life. The only good thing I saw that came from it was the fact I became a Christian on January 21, 1980 & Johnny gave his life to Jesus a few years later then God did a restoration work & put our family back together again. We were married soon after we decided to get back together again & after a few years of painful mending work was accomplished. Dealing with past hurts was very difficult for me & trust had to be re-established. We made an agreement to put Biblical order into our marriage & that made for a drastic 180 degree possitive turn-about effect on our relationship. We learned what love & committment really was. We grow in it daily, learning to give & take, knowing that there are struggles along with the happy times & we must learn to put everything in balance & have the right perspective on issues that may come our way. We are committed to working every issue out. We debate our issues & try to come to an agreed on compromise that is suitable for both of us, instead of arguing & attacking one another with fruitless words or actions. This method has worked wonderfully for us. In total, we spent 13 freezing cold years in Minneapolis & its surrounding suburbs (Richfield & Brooklyn Center) before we decided to move to sunny southern Cali. Many reason for desiring the change... but talk about culture shock!!! California was so different than the life I knew. The weather & scenery was beautiful, but the ppl were very phony & materialistic to me. I had a love-hate relationship with Cali. I think in ways, I still do. California was NOTHING like I was used to & we ventured here on faith alone & lots of $$$ in our pockets. We didn't know anybody here. No family, no friends, no anyone. We drove our own car & U-Haul trailer from Minnesota & stayed in various motels till we could get our 1st place to live in Riverside, CA. It was a very nice 3-plex dwelling. It was a sincere new beginning on an unknown frontier for us. We had another child on October 23rd. She is such a blessing! Her name is Cheyenne. She is now 13 y/o. I never even knew I was pregnant with her, as my menstrual cycle has never been normal after the birth of my son. I hadn't had a consistent period in years before this. I never used birth control after I had a bad incident with an I.U.D. & I presumed that I could not get pregnant again; after all, many years went by & I never did. I found out when I was scheduled to go in for gall bladder surgery & my final blood tests came back stating that I was 5 months pregnant. It was a shock, but a very welcome surprise. Pregnancy was the last thing we ever expected. I never felt a thing that indicated it. No morning sickness or any other symptoms that come with pregnancy. We were both extremely happy, after the shock wore off. I never did get that gall bladder surgery either. LOL Things have improved vastly since we came to California, yet some things are still a constant struggle, but I have learned to take things day by day as they come. Life has been a constant challenge with many blessings along the way. Life is a wild ride indeed! My nickname, KATALAC, was given to me many years ago by my sister-in-law, Verna. She said I reminded her of taking a smooth, wild ride thru the Twilight Zone, so she combined that with my name (KAT or Kathy) & called me KATALAC. I took this name as my main user nic when I first got online. I have kept it ever since. Peace to all. ...KAT