Michael and I met December 1984. After tumultuous events in my own life, we joined households in May 1985 right after his return from Lincoln, NE for Curt's high school graduation. This and the next galleries represent our 23 years together.

He lived on Damuth St. in a little California bungalow with 2 bedrooms and a small workshop in the back yard where he ran his woodworking business called Growing Old Gracefully. I commuted 40 miles to work at Hewlett-Packard in Mountain View across the bay.

Michael was spending a great deal of time getting used to being a new stepfather, taking care of the kids during my workday - a big adjustment for everyone. He put much thought and effort into introducing the kids to new experiences: going on lots of day trips and getting them involved in creative activities, showing them how to make choices - an important element missing from their former Utah lives. He loved photography; took thousands of photos.

Curt came to live with us sometime after his graduation in Lincoln, NE.

After about 2˝ years of crowded living at Damuth, we moved to a bigger place on East 22nd. Michael also found a much bigger place for his woodworking business at a marina just 5 miles away from home. Later Curt went back to Lincoln.

Our E. 22nd neighborhood was primarily Asian and Black, so diversity and street-smarts became part of the kids' education in the heart of Oakland where they were among -guessing- about the 5th percentile of white kids at school.

In 1992, 21-year-old Noni was in college at Santa Barbara, 19-year-old Susannah and 17-year-old Hyrum had moved out. Michael and I decided to tie the knot so he could participate in my medical benefits. August 1, 1992 we took 13-year-old Rulon with us on a vacation to tour several National Parks, but first showed up at the JP's office in Carson City, NV where Rulon witnessed the 'ceremony.'

Phoebe died at the ripe old age of 19... a sad day. Michael buried her in the back yard. Over the years he had collected a number of animal skulls. He dug up Phoebe's before we moved to Fremont and added it to his bone collection.