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After graduation I entered Sisters of Mercy convent in St. Louis, MO and remained four years while I discerned whether this was the right choice. One year of that time I was assigned to Mount St. Mary Academy and taught fifth grade. My college study was focused on the plan to be an English teacher.
After leaving the Mercy convent, I altered my education focus. I lived in Houston briefly before and after my nurses training at a branch of LSU in Alexandria, LA. In 1974 I moved to San Francisco where I eventually moved into my chosen nursing field, psychiatry. After working several years and also completing my undergraduate degree in Psychology at San Francisco State University, I returned to graduate school. I completed an MBA at UCLA with a focus on Human Resources.
During business school I met a classmate who is now my husband, Davis Bernstein. We laugh now about the seven years that passed before we married, and I say "We pushed and pulled until we learned how to dance." Each of us returned to our previous career paths after a brief time in the business world. I worked for Bank of America in San Francisco for four years, and Davis reconnected with Environmental Protection Agency.
My return to nursing was in Sonoma County in California wine country where I was head nurse of a 30-bed psychiatry unit and then division manager over that unit, psych ER, and our contract with the state hospital. My later work stints included mental health administration and the wonderful opportunity to be a hospice nurse.
Along the way Davis and I had opportunities to live elsewhere - briefly in Sacramento and the D.C. area and a total of seven years in Honolulu. I studied hypnotherapy and Interactive Guided Imagery and, as a volunteer, introduced guided imagery to Queens Hospital on Oahu. Davis worked in the environmental department of Hawai'i's Department of Health.
I married when I was 42 and Davis and I have no children. We did have his mom live with us for five years, so we had one of America's alternative families!
Davis and I have had wonderful travel experiences. We spent a year traveling between his years with EPA and his Hawai'i work and then five years traveling when we left Hawai'i in 2008. We engage in creative travel and have taken part in Worldwide Workers on Organic Farms, Servas international host/traveler organization, a medical study for an oral vaccine in Guatemala, share rentals, and sublets. Our stopping points include Belize, British Isles, Thailand, Italy, Spain, France, Ecuador, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and India. My most significant physical accomplishment was completing a one-week bike ride across Iowa when I was 49.
My other "journey" includes that of spirituality. I was brought up in the strong Catholic household of my parents, joined the Mercy convent after MSM, and still feel a part of the Mercy family. I remained involved with the Catholic church for decades. Eventually spirituality became more important than religion and my beliefs evolved. I sum up my current state by saying "I used to have answers, and now I walk in mystery." I attend a women's group with the local Quaker community and find Quaker values clear and relevant: Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, and Equality.
At this time I am retired from nursing and live with Davis in our home in Santa Rosa, California. We have slowed down our travel schedule and cherish our time here in this beautiful area. Some of my time is spent volunteering with local programs, and my commitments include visiting my hospice patient and having several ways to be involved with a local non-profit that uses its thrift store proceeds for community programs.
2018 - Our community was devastated by the October fire in 2017. Our home was not affected, but some areas were wiped out. The community continues to feel the trauma and aftermath. Davis and I were in Japan at the time, and I'm quite grateful to have missed the terror. Blessings to all who are facing these weather challenges, health challenges, and family challenges.
What I love? Reading, film, my sweetheart husband, the stunning awesomeness of nature, quality time with friends, babies.
