I was the second child of four, ideally I would have been a boy, they said I was a boy, and that would have been it for my parents, but alas, another girl. Actually, I was born with my cord loosely curled around my neck and I was blue, not from being strangled by the ever important highway of oxygen and nutrition from my mothers womb, but because those bright, blinding white monstrosities attacking my poor eyes from above. I simply had the breath scared out of me. My father loves to tell the tale of the Doctor who needed to return to medical school, as when he was asked whether I was a boy or girl he responded "I don't know." Stunned I tell you. In truth, he simply had not the time to look yet as well...I was blue. My silence only lasted for so long, as when they suctioned out my airways, my father was sure they could hear me throughout the whole hospital in rural South Dakota.
We did not stay in South Dakota for long. By the age of two, we came to New York, Buffalo area to be precise, and I have lived here for the entirety of my life so far. I have travelled much, but Buffalo is still home. My father is a minister and historian and my mother studied biology and medical technology, but works for a bank now, hospital mergers would have prevented her from seeing her children growing up due to insane schedules. The three from South Dakota, became four in New York as my youngest brother (of two) surprised my parents two years in.
Family trips always had some element of history mixed in, a fort along our route, or living history museums. History, and it's importance was always a large part of our lives. As young adults, my youngest brother and myself, and eventually our parents got involved in living history education at a local fort and engrossed ourselves in the 18th century. We now spend most of our summer weekends traveling back in time educating the local populations on life during the French and Indian (Seven Year's War) and the American Revolution. For me, this wasn't enough. I needed more history. I pursued a degree in archaeology in college and eventually earned my doctorate in archaeology. While I love the 18th century and it is a passion of mine, the medieval period is my heart and soul. It is a fascinating and complicated moment in history, especially so in Ireland and Scotland, the place of my roots. This is what inspired my first book...
During graduate school I fell in love, got married, had a beautiful baby girl, discovered I married a lie, a fictitious character created and played to woo me into a false sense of security, survived an abusive relationship, freed myself and my daughter from that physical, mental and emotional prison and earned my doctorate as a single mother living with my parents as an adult. But here is where it gets interesting. Remember there at the top of the page...I was supposed to be a boy. My siblings of course having not suffered in a poor relationship as I, have moved out and have lives of their own. I am home helping my older parents with their house (the first they've ever owned and a fixer-upper) and am quite handy with power tools, projects, designs, gardening and herbal healing. I, the second daughter, have achieved the ever elusive 'favorite son' status, guess they were right after all ;).