My childhood years were spent on a farm in Wisconsin, my nursing education took place at a hospital in Eau Claire where Ann Landers and Dear Abby were volunteers. One year after I became a nurse I married my husband Bill and we proceeded to raise six children, five daughters and one son. In my heart, I am still the Wisconsin tomboy who grew up wandering through the woods and around rivers and lakes free to dream romantic fantasies, to smell clean air and watch wild animals at play.