I'm a woman in my early thirties, about to graduate with an earth science degree. I had a pretty rough start due to major health problems that left me bedridden when I was 23 for over a year. It's been a long, painful battle from that low point, but I won my life back, went back to school, found a soul mate, and adopted a very nice shelter dog. Things are stressful still, and I will live with chronic pain my entire life, but I am grateful to finally feel at peace with that.

I had a pretty challenging childhood, which shaped the way I think. I was helping to change my dying grandfather's diapers by the time I was sixteen, when I wasn't in school or working thirty hours a week at a fast food joint to help my mom make ends meet.

Every single member of my immediate family is afflicted with either severe depression or autism. I later worked with autistic, schizophrenic, and developmentally challenged people as a professional. I've also been a professional artist, written several books, and have climbed many mountains (deformed spine and all!) I am a die-hard fan of science fiction, fantasy, and reading in general. If I get to feeling like the world is a crappy place, I can pick up Hunger Games or A Song of Ice and Fire and remind myself that it really could be so much worse.

I don't judge others. I'm friends with transgendered people, evangelical christians, and everyone in between.
I've never met anyone who I couldn't listen to or talk with who wanted to do so. My quest in life is to understand, and through that understanding, better myself and help others.