CHILDHOOD AMBITION
To be a pilot.
FONDEST MEMORY
Finding out I was healed of cancer and that my baby was healthy.
FAVORITE MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS
Easy Rider and Shrek.
WILDEST DREAMS
To be a writer and to go hang gliding.
PROUDEST MOMENTS
Independently moving from Buffalo, New York, to San Diego, California, in 1983; receiving my master's degree as a critical care clinical nurse specialist in 1992.
PERFECT DAY
Relaxing at our family cottage on the lake, in Long Beach, Ontario, Canada, with my husband, daughter, parents, many siblings, nieces, and nephews.
FIRST HEALTH CARE JOB
At age 17 as a nurse's aide at the Skilled Nursing Facility at Kenmore Mercy Hospital in Buffalo.
SECRET SIN
Sponge candy (a confectionary specialty of Buffalo).
LAST PURCHASE
A great pair of dressy, dark-brown, high-heeled sandals.
INSPIRATIONS
Faith; our 11-year-old daughter's battle against inflammatory bowel disease; my brother Charlie's political involvement.
SCARIEST MOMENT
Finding out I had microinvasive adenocarcinoma of the cervix when I was five months' pregnant.
BEST VACATION
Hiking and white-water rafting with my husband in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Parks.
FAVORITE MOVIE
To Kill a Mockingbird.
FAVORITE FOOD
A Reuben sandwich from D. Z. Akin's, a deli in San Diego.
WORST DATE'S FIRST NAME
Ernie (his best friend's name was Bert).
FAVORITE BOOK
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
DREAM VACATION
A one-month Mediterranean cruise, with stops in Spain, the south of France, Italy's coast, the Greek isles.
I ASPIRE TO [horizontal ellipsis]
Create healing environments for critically ill patients and their families.
NURSING AMBITION
To inspire passion for nursing in others.