I grew up in Washington, DC, moved away and moved back in 1980. An art history/art concentration at Skidmore College did not result in an art career. It was the late 60s. I became focused on who, in our culture/country, had strong encouragement to develop passion for learning, creative thinking skills along with basic academic skills. Art is obviously part of this, so I became an early childhood trained teacher and spent the next 50 +years in classrooms. Art and creativity of various sorts is how children develop passion so I tried to make it the center of all we did. I loved my career, however when I retired in 2014, I returned to drawing and painting. The challenge of interpreting experience makes my retirement exciting.