Since I left college early to marry the love of my life and to raise five children, I made a second effort at becoming educated, first as a registered nurse.  Following over five years of nursing, I found my interests leaning toward the mental issues the patients and their families faced during hospitalization, so off for a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in art.  This late entry experience whetted my appetite for more learning.  When our youngest son graduated from High School, we went off together for a new university challenge, he as a freshman, me a graduate student in social work. After graduating with the Connie Mortenson Outstanding Student in Mental Health Award, I worked for four years with Students Services at Weber State University while earning a doctorate in Educational Leadership and this degree led to my final career move.  For ten years, I loved the hundreds of students I taught as a faculty member in the Social Work department and then I decided to join my husband in a sunny golf city, so I took early retirement.  This delightful change and a single digit golf handicap still left me wondering about the meaning of my life.  To be certain, I had dabbled in artistic adventures throughout life, and then I found “gourding”.

What I love about this wonderful medium is the forgiveness!  What I cannot do is perfect, what I can do is create something I love.  No two gourds are alike and each presents the challenges of uneven symmetry, imperfect surfaces, various thicknesses, blotchy outer skin…. so many imperfections; this fits my personality perfectly.  My golf friends tease me about giving up golf for gourds.  I wonder if they are right?  Here, you will see proof of my passion and my artistic nature satisfied.