Anne's 30-Year Computing Career (Parts A - F --> from 1985 to 2015) -- by Anne Shier

My 30-year Career in Computing from 1985-2015 -- by Anne Shier Part A In 1985, while living in Calgary, Alberta, I decided I had to make a badly-needed career change.  Up till then, I'd worked for a bank, done some supply teaching, even working as a temp in an elementary school full-time for awhile.  None of it was satisfying though, so I bit the bullet, so to speak, and enrolled myself into McKay Computer College in the summer of 1985 and took my very first microcomputer course. This course was actually made up of three components:  word processing, spreadsheets, and accounting software.  I had never done any of these things before; therefore, I thought I would experience a steep learning curve in doing these things for the very first time. Amazingly enough, I excelled at word processing despite being just an average typist, and at accounting software (manipulating numbers was nothing new to me!).  Spreadsheets, however, took a bit of practice, but I did manage to master this component by the end of the course.  I graduated 3 and half months later with 91% and my first college certificate.  That happened in October 1985.	Part B After that, it was relatively easy to land computer jobs, especially with a temp agency (Diversified Temporary Services).  I worked for Pan Canadian Petroleum, Sceptre Resources (another oil company), The Society of Certified Management Accountants, Billingsgate Fish Co. Ltd. and GSL Chev City. During the 1988 Olympics, I also worked for Ellis-Don Construction (in connection with television of the Olympic Games) and later at Matsushita Electric.  Every one of these jobs gave me a lot of valuable experience in both accounting and computers. I knew then that computing was the field of work I'd always been looking for. Eventually, however, my son (who was just 6 at the time) and I decided we had to move back to Toronto, which is where I was from.  My son had been born in Calgary during my all-too-brief marriage to his father.  When my husband and I finally broke up and divorced in March 1988 (during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary), I decided finally that it was time to make the move to Toronto. That was where my family was and my son did not know any of them yet. He needed an extended family and I needed my family for support during the aftermath of my divorce.  So, in early December 1990, we took the plunge and packed up our stuff, sold my car and furniture, put most of our personal stuff on a Greyhound bus as freight, and left Calgary for good.  It had been a good city to live in as a single person and for a time while I was living with my boyfriend (before I married him), but I was truly relieved to be leaving.
Part C We boarded a Greyhound bus bound for Toronto on December 9, 1990.  This was a regular Toronto-bound bus that traveled east a total of 3 days and stopped at 8 different locations over the 3-day period.  We could get off the bus at certain stops to eat and freshen up, but we had to sleep on the bus because there was no extra time allotted for that.  So, 3 days later, we arrived in Toronto feeling rather scruffy, both needing showers badly, and a good night's sleep in proper beds.  My son thought of the whole trip as a great adventure, and in tune with his cheery attitude, I did too.  I thought maybe one day in the future, I might take a trip out west again, but next time, I would definitely stop overnight at least 3 times along the way to sleep in a hotel. In Toronto, my son was picked up by his father (with whom he was to stay in Mississauga, Ont. for awhile) and I went to live at my girlfriend Gerry's place. The reason I planned it this way is because, though I loved my family, I did not get along with my father.  We'd always had a difficult relationship and things had not gotten any better over the past 9 years of my absence. On the other hand, I was relatively close to my mother, but she always had to listen to what my father wanted and he definitely didn't appear to want us to stay with them at all. I could live with that fact though; I was used to his ornery ways by now.	Part D Gerry and I had been friends since we were kids.  She lived in a large 3-bedroom apartment with her then-husband, Bryan, and her son, David, and she told me that she was willing to rent me a bedroom for $400/month.  I thought it was the best deal I was likely to get until I could get back on my own two feet, so I stayed with her and her family for about 5 months.  I would have stayed longer, but I wasn't crazy about her husband who continually criticized me and the decisions I'd been making. Gerry also didn't like this judgmental attitude of his, but she was apparently willing to overlook his character flaw for the sake of their marriage.  After 5 months of his constant criticisms, I finally elected to look for a place of my own and work on getting my son back to live with me. Early in January 1991, I went to work almost immediately for an accounting firm, Fuller Jenks Landau, a job which, unfortunately, did not last long.  In Toronto, a recession was beginning to take a firm hold of the city and, a few months later, I was laid off from my new job.  Apparently, the partners (all 8 of them) saw my salary as just an extra, unnecessary expense that cut into their company profits.  I tried not to take the rejection personally, but it was hard not to. They weren't very nice about it when they decided to let me go.  It might have been hard for them to do what they had to do, but it certainly didn't appear to bother them much at all.
Part E I started looking for work again. Unfortunately, work of any kind was now hard to find, especially computer work, which was what I wanted.  I kept at my job search diligently for the next year and a half, but was shocked to find out that companies were moving out of town faster than you could imagine. The rents and leases were at an all-time high in Toronto and companies as well as people were finding it very hard to make ends meet.  I was no exception. Now, all I had for income was an EI cheque that I received in the mail periodically and this money was all I had to keep body and soul together for the time being. Meanwhile, I'd gotten a new boyfriend, Gil, and we started spending a lot of time together. I wanted to find a new apartment for myself and my son, but I wasn't ready to consider living with Gil yet.  We'd just met and were still getting to know each other.  Still, when an apartment became available in mid-1991, I could not afford to bypass this opportunity because I missed my son (though I saw him every weekend) and I needed to have him back living with me. He told me that he missed me too so I knew that I had to do something quickly.	Part F After I got the apartment, with Gil's help, I had to do something about my financial situation.  After giving the matter a lot of thought, I decided to take the plunge and commit to a full-time college program that would give me more credibility and an awesome skill set in computers. This is how I came to enroll at Seneca College in a 3-year program called "Computer Programming and Analysis".  It meant that I would now have to learn how to program a computer, but for some unknown reason, I felt ready to take on this new challenge in the field of computers even though I'd never programmed computers in my life. Of course, I needed to borrow the money for my college program. As difficult as I thought this would be, I managed to accomplish it fairly easily through the auspices of the OSAP program available for Ontario post-secondary students. At this point, things in my life started to turn around for the better. I got my son back finally; I was attending school full-time; I had some money (though not a lot); I had an awesome boyfriend, and I now had a future. I didn't feel depressed anymore; I saw that my experience and my growing skill set in the computer field were going to help me have a great future.  Little did I know how much my training at Seneca College was ultimately going to benefit my life.  It was a decision that turned my life around completely in ways that I could not have predicted if I'd tried.

A Summary of My Life and Teaching Career (2000 - 2015) - by Anne Shier

Hello Everyone,

I am a retired teacher who taught computer science for the most part, but also many other computer-related subjects. While I did my best to design, plan and deliver the curriculum to my students, it came to my attention recently that in the early part of my career, when I was teaching at Don Mills C.I. (2000-2003), there were students who clearly did not appreciate what I had to offer them.

To those students, I apologize fervently for anything I said in class that was inaccurate or contradictory.  I did not mean to do that.  I was going through a very tough time in my life back then.  I was just starting out as a full-time teacher after having suffered a serious car accident in which I was seriously injured and in which someone else was injured, as well. It was a "freak" accident.  That happened in the spring of 2000.  It took me 8 full months to recover completely.  Two years later in the winter of 2002, I lost my mother in another serious car accident in which our car spun out in a heavy snow storm and hit a hydro pole directly on the driver door.  I survived this accident, which killed my mother and injured my father.  No one was ever held at fault.  I can only surmise that it was also a "freak" accident - an act of God.  The fact that I survived as a full-time teacher during this incredibly difficult time indicated to me that I was meant to be a teacher.  I could just as easily have walked away from teaching at Don Mills because of the horrific emotional toll my life was taking on me.  But, I stuck it out instead and because of that, I finally got a much-coveted permanent teaching contract, full-time work with a pension, benefits, and a future.

After leaving Don Mills C.I. in 2003 due to being declared surplus to the school board, I was then hired to teach at Albert Campbell C.I. in 2003.  In the fall of 2005, my youngest sister lost her year-long battle with lung cancer and died.  Meanwhile, despite my grief at losing her, I continued to teach computers there until 2015 when I retired due to ongoing health issues.  I've taught at least 16 different courses (not including course code changes) and I've done my best to conduct my professional teaching life the way all teachers are expected to do.  I love to teach, and my students, for the most part, like being in my classes.  I don't have any reason to think otherwise.  Hopefully, I will be going to the UK later this year to start teaching again. It is my hope that I'll be teaching computer science, as well.  For certain, it will be the beginning of an exciting new phase in my life.

If you want to find out more about my life, read my fictional books (based on real life experiences). The first one is called "My Short Stories (Book One)" and the second one is called "My Short Stories (Book Two)".  These books are available at online retailers, like Amazon, in hard cover, soft cover, and e-book format.  My second book is also being made into an audio book and will be available in the spring of 2016.

Anne's English Resume (version J)

10 Billingsgate Crescent Ajax, Ontario L1S 2R8

Cell Ph.:  (416) 458-4968 E-mail: anne.shier652@gmail.com

Anne L. Shier                        

Summary of qualifications	Secondary School Teacher  - Toronto District School Board §  full-time teacher from September 2000 to June 2015 (then retired) : §  Taught Computer Programming (Grades 10–12), Computer    Engineering / Technology (Grades 10–12), Systems Analysis and Design (OAC), Desktop and Internet Publishing (Grade 12), Business Technology (Grades 9 and 10), and Career Studies (Grade 10) §  Am well acquainted with Java, Turing and C / C++ languages §  Have a solid knowledge of computer networking technologies §  Graduated from Seneca College of A.A.&T. with a Computer Programming and Analysis 3-year (advanced) diploma (1996) and minored in English literature (5 credits with an A average) §  Achieved a certificate from Ryerson University (8 credits) in Information  Systems Management (awarded in Spring 2009) Technical Systems Analyst / Programmer Analyst §  Worked for RBC, Systems and Technology department for 2+ years as a Programmer/Analyst and Technical Systems Analyst on the mainframe
Professional experience	1996 to 1997               Seneca College – School of Computer                                      Studies - Don Mills Campus Full-time Teaching Assistant: ·               Tutored in Applied Problem Solving (Math) for 3 semesters ·               Tutored in C Programming for 2 semesters 1997 to 1999                 Seneca College – School of Computer Studies – Newnham Campus Part-Time Instructor: ·               Taught Applied Problem Solving for 2 semesters ·               Taught Introduction to Computer Systems and C Programming for 2 semesters ·               Taught Introduction to Computer Systems (including Web Page Design and Programming concepts) for 1 semester 1997 to 1998               RBC Financial Group – Systems and                                     Technology Department (Royal Direct                                     Telephone Banking System) Full-Time Programmer/Analyst: ·            Worked in Mainframe Host Group – Aug./97 to Dec./98 ·               Engaged in Y2K planning and testing  ·               Revised and tested various DB2 database programs   ·               Resolved production problems, as required ·               Set up new personnel with DB2 access, as required ·               Wrote an online DB2 program to search the Company table ·               Worked on various projects and implementations ·               Revised the online Operations Manual. 1998 to 1999               RBC Financial Group – Systems and                                    Technology Department (Indirect Lending                                     System) Full-Time Technical Systems Analyst: ·             Worked as Mainframe Host Person – Dec./98 to Nov./99: ·               Engaged in Y2K testing ·               Revised and tested various online IMS programs ·               Worked on a major implementation (a special report) ·               Resolved numerous production problems ·               Revised the online Operations Manual
Professional memberships	Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), Ontario College of Teachers (OCT), Association of Computer Studies Educators of Ontario (ACSE), and Institute of Canadian Bankers (ICB)
Skills and Accomplishments	·         Excellent English verbal and written skills as required for teaching and creative writing ·         Excellent presentation skills using MS-Office software ·         Excellent research skills used to find relevant information on the Web ·         Excellent web design skills for making personal web sites ·         Acquired knowledge of  HTML, PHP, and JavaScript for making dynamic web pages
Hobbies	Past karaoke singing, listening to music, watching TV and DVD movies, photography, traveling within Canada and abroad, reading novels and writing short stories
Interests &     activities	Being an actively-involved grandmother; maintaining and updating my own personal short story blogs, publishing 2 books of short stories:  My Short Stories (Book One) and My Short Stories (Book Two), and working at being the best teacher I could possibly be at the high school level regardless of subject area
Volunteer experience	Assistant / Head Judge in Ontario and Alberta (10 years);  Women’s Gymnastics Judging Assistant at the World University Games in Edmonton, Alberta in 1983 (Universiade’83);  St. John’s Ambulance Brigade member (3 years);  Assistant / Head Coach for 3 amateur sports clubs / teams (7-8 years in total)
Awards received	The Tom Proctor Business Communications Award for Seneca College – 1994; The School of Computer Studies Scholarship for Seneca College – 1995; Associate of the Institute of Canadian Bankers (AICB) designation – 2005

Anne Shier's Author Profile

For:  My Readers   

Date:  December 7, 2014 

Welcome to my website!

I'm Anne Shier, author of My Short Stories: Book One.

About the Author
I have been writing short stories since the mid-1990s, mostly since 2004. I've had a lot of experience with people in my past work positions, particularly in the present since my current position is a Computer Science teacher at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, Ontario.  At the time of publication of my first book, I‘d been a teacher for over 10 years full-time. I am also a very proud mother and grand-mother. I've studied psychology and sociology at university and I have a fair number of English university and college courses to my credit (due to having attended college later on in my life), as well.  As a full-time student at Seneca College, I was a part-time English tutor for two years there (1993-1995) and, in 1995 (my third year), I won Seneca College's Tom Proctor Award for Excellence in Business Communi-cations. But, what I really love is writing mostly about people, their relationships with each other, and the many things in life that affect them.  That’s the real me, following my passion.  This comes largely from my personal life experience, but is not limited to that. I live in Ajax, Ontario and I just love it there!  You can find my complete profile on www.google.com (when in Google, search for “Anne Shier”).  I also have a Facebook account, so you can find me that way, as well.  Visit my "Author" page on my author web site:  www.anneshier.com and click on the Facebook icon to see my complete Facebook profile. If you want to be my friend on Facebook, I'd love to add you!  The more, the merrier! 

      My book got a lot of media coverage in Canada and the United States in 2011. For a detailed list of all the media coverage, see my "News & Events" page and click on the links there to find out more!  

About my first book, My Short Stories: Book One

This is a collection of my short stories that I've written about people, their relationships and the common problems that they face every day:  Issues like marriage, divorce, murder, betrayal, seduction and deception, as well as a host of other life-related topics that can affect human relationships. 

About my second book, My Short Stories: Book Two (pub. Dec. 2013)

This book was written because I have an ongoing interest in people and their relationships.  I’ve developed this interest primarily because I’m a people-oriented person.  I’ve worked in industry for at least 25 years and in schools for at least 15 years of my life, including 2.5 years of part-time teaching at Seneca.  The jobs that gave me the most satisfaction and happiness, by far, were those that dealt with people, such as serving customers over the counter, dealing with suppliers over the phone, and teaching students in high school. If I had a job in which I had a considerate boss and friendly co-workers that also contributed to my job satisfaction.  Sometimes I think about what the word “career” means to me, personally, and I’ve decided that it includes all the collective experiences in life that contribute to who you are and make you a valuable person in society – someone who is happiest when contributing to the betterment of one’s fellow man.  Although I don’t like to talk about this part of my life much, I’ve been married and divorced twice.  If there’s anything this has taught me, it’s that, just because you got married, it may not last forever, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still be happy. You must find out who you really are, accept yourself and be happy with yourself before you have any hope of making anyone else, such as a significant other, happy as well.  The bottom line is that if you’re not happy with your job or your life, in general, it is probably due, at least in part, to the quality of a relationship that you have.  To this end, I want to share my extensive life experiences with my readers in a fictional way, as well as include some other experiences that I believe are valuable lessons to learn in life: nothing happens without a price to pay.  However, you can be happy if you are willing to put the time and energy into becoming the person you both need and want to be.

***********************************

A few of my short stories in this book are sequels (Part IIs) to stories that appeared in my first book “My Short Stories (Book One)”, published in 2011.  To develop a deeper understanding of any sequel, you should read the first part of the story beforehand. 

If you want an autographed copy of my soft cover book, My Short Stories:  Book Two, you only need to request one from me….I’ll very happy to sign a copy for you to keep.  And, I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading it; after all, that’s why I wrote it.

In the future, I am planning to finish writing my third volume, a non-fiction book to be called Acrobatic & Artistic Sports & Dance and then publish and publicize it.  This book will include my own short stories as well as information on sports like acrobatic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, dance of all kinds, trampoline, acrobatic skiing, extreme sports, acrobatic events in track and field (like pole vaulting and high jump), figure skating, diving, and many other sports.  I am also planning to get a book review done for this book, since it will be an important book from my perspective and, I believe that the public will greatly enjoy reading it.

	SEASON’S GREETINGS!

 

Chapter 5G - Alexandra Orlando's Life as a Young Female Athlete - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

(Based on the book “Breaking Through My Limits:  An Olympian Uncovered”,

copyright 2012, by Alexandra Orlando)

As related by Ms. Orlando (prior to the 2004 Olympic Qualifiers):

I know how worried my loved ones were, even my trainer and physiotherapist, and everyone was telling how thin I had become, but not as a compliment.  But, I didn’t care, and what’s worse is that I didn’t believe them.  There were still pounds to lose, and I was still nowhere near being a size zero, which was the ultimate goal.  I went from a size six to a size two in the blink of an eye, too fast to maintain, but I was on a mission.

 

I don’t know how I even had enough energy for the amount of work I put my body through.  I can only think that it was the adrenaline of being so close to the end of the tunnel that carried me.  I picked up the worst habits you could think of, like running on Red Bull.  And, believe me, it does give you wings!  Caffeine became my middle name.  So dangerous.  So stupid.  There were days when I would look at myself in the mirror after a hot shower and write in the mirror the words I couldn’t say:

“I hate you.”

“Help.”

“I don’t want to die.”

The fuzzy silhouette of my face was barely visible as I wiped those words away, those thoughts from my head.  “Just a few more weeks,” I kept telling myself, “you’re so strong, you can do this”.  I kept packets of honey in my purse for when I felt so faint I needed a shot of sugar to keep me from dropping.  Yet it was so easy.

I was travelling all over the world on my own, never under supervision, never accountable to anyone or anything besides showing up in the gym and doing my job.  As long as I did that and competed well, no one asked questions.  I was a young woman who should have known better, but the years of emotional abuse had warped my own morality.  When I walked into World Championships, the thinnest I’d ever been, I gave it my all, and everyone noticed.  It couldn’t have been more perfect, and I had the best competition of my life.  When I qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games, I came back to life, woke up from the nightmare I was living, and opened my big eyes.

What I looked like didn’t matter anymore.  I was free.  I have never felt so alive, and gave in to all my senses.  I stayed up all night celebrating with my family and teammates who had come to Greece to watch me.  I ate and drank in excess, toasting the year and the place I had come from.  I met my best friend the next week and had ten days on the beach in Greece to enjoy myself and relax.  I came home a new woman, and was done with feeling vulnerable and scared, and now needed to concentrate on me and only me:  my health, my body, my mind and soul.  I needed to come to terms with what I had done to myself, and to start healing, and lean on my family.  It was easier to run away and disappear for weeks at a time when I was struggling than to drag them into it.  I know now that I can’t do everything on my own, and for those of you who stuck around long enough for me to realize that, you will be in my heart forever.

2008 was a year of learning and growth.  I gained back most of my weight and almost had a career-ending injury mere months before the Olympics.  The injury became my main focus, and my weight was a distant second for once.  I cared more about being able to walk than what I looked like in my bathing suit, and was eye opening for me.  After I got to the Games with my ankles both taped up so tightly that they were being held together, I knew that what I had overcome to get there meant more to me than what I looked like.  I slid into those competitive suits one last time, and walked out there with no body image issues, no regrets, and no looking back.

(End of Chapter 5 – Rock Bottom – Alexandra Orlando’s Life as a Young Female Athlete)

copyright 2014, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.

Chapter 5F - Alexandra Orlando's Life as a Young Female Athlete - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

(Based on the book “Breaking Through My Limits:  An Olympian Uncovered”,

copyright 2012, by Alexandra Orlando)

As related by Ms. Orlando (prior to the 2004 Olympic Qualifiers):

After the meet, we had a two-day camp in Montreal with the team that would be going to Australia.  I didn’t even participate.  We were all warming up that cold February morning when I got pulled into a “meeting”.  I walked into a room full of people with no one on my side.  If I didn’t lose weight, I would not be able to compete at the Commonwealth Games.  It was unacceptable to look the way I did and represent the country.  I now take in that sentence, slowly this time, letting the words sink in.  At the time, as an eighteen-year-old girl, I was hysterical, and couldn’t even talk.  It was one of those full body cries that turn you into a blubbering mess.  It was awful.  The last year had built up inside of me, and I just let it out.

They directed me to Jenny Craig:  an elite athlete, a national champion, having to call Jenny Craig to tell them I was fat and needed help.  I couldn’t train, I couldn’t think.  I got out of there so fast that my teammates knew exactly what had happened.  To see them feel for me so strongly gave me hope that I could get through this, maybe.

No one would actually have stopped me from competing in Australia, but they poked and prodded me at every opportunity they could get.  I went down there and won six gold medals, breaking a world record for my sport…at my size.  That moment meant more to me than anything.  What I looked like didn’t have to matter, and I wanted to show all those young girls out there that they don’t have to fit a mould to be accepted.  Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something.

I had accepted that I would never look like those girls I envied, but I would do whatever I could to get into the best shape I possibly could.  This newfound plan seemed to work well for me mentally, but not physically.  I would train for four hours, then hit the elliptical and treadmill each day for at least an hour and a half, and then go back to the gym to train again.  I started working out with the greatest trainer I know, and without him, I never would have stayed sane.  He was careful to let me do my thing, but he guided me.  He was absolutely incredible, and not only was he my trainer, but my psychologist, mentor and friend.  It was a breath of fresh air coming to see him every other day during those hard couple of months.  He couldn’t care less what they told me, and thought that those people telling me I was overweight were crazy. 

I was strong, powerful and dynamic, and he saw how beautiful that was and asked me if I wanted to be the best gymnast out there, one who could turn heads with her power and strength.  I couldn’t help but smile.  So that’s exactly what we did.  When I was with him, I have never felt more healthy and athletic in my life.  He brought me back to life, and I will never be able to thank him enough for that.  When they broke me down, he picked me back up, and I would spend hour and hours at the gym with him because it felt like home. 

After our sessions, he would sit down with me and make sure I ate properly, adding some chicken or protein to my plate, trying to make me understand how important it was to fuel my body with foods that would help, not hinder my potential.  I was at my healthiest with him by my side.  You get blinded when you are surrounded with so much negativity that you don’t know how to be positive anymore, and you become unable to understand the other side.  I could hardly believe that there was any other way to look at myself.  It didn’t matter how many times my parents told me I was beautiful or my sister tried to make me see how incredible I was – nothing worked.  I could nod my head and say I understood, but I didn’t really believe it.  Inside, I was twisted and torn up, making scrapbooks of models that I wanted to look like, and diaries of my food intake and body measurements.  I would have probably kept that measuring tape under my pillow if I thought my mom wouldn’t have found it.  I was leading this secret life and shutting the rest of the world out, not letting anyone get too close to me.

As it got closer to Olympic Qualifiers, the stress I placed on myself was more than I could bear.  I was having the best training of my life and hitting personal bests in Europe and all over the world, but the pressure to be thin enough to make it to the Olympics caught up to me.  I could now count down the weeks until I walked into Greece for the World Championships, and it all of a sudden dawned on me that there was not more fooling around with this weight thing.  No more just monitoring the situation and making sure I was stable and healthy – I needed to do something drastic.  I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to do it, but it’s scary what you can put your mind to when you feel so strongly about something.  So, I did the unthinkable.

I starved myself until I could see the pounds melt off, only eating in front of people to make it seem as though everything was okay.  The headaches and stomach torture were worth it, I told myself; and the more praise I received for losing weight, the more motivated I became.  For the first time in my life, people were looking at me and smiling again, sighing in relief that I had finally cut weight.  It was as if they thought I sat at home and stuffed my face with chocolate and pizza, Italian home-cooked meals and anything else I could find, being greedy, inconsiderate and careless, like I didn’t care, like I didn’t want to the Olympics bad enough…like I chose to be fat.  I could see it on their faces.  I was in complete denial the entire year, training eight hours a day on five hundred calories or less, trying to avoid water to dehydrate myself before I competed.  It became so normal that I didn’t think anything of it.  I loved it.  No one dared to say a word, and the next, precious few months could be the end of it all.

(to be continued in Part G)

copyright 2014, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.