Rae, thank you for such thought-provoking questions. I will do my best answer them in an equally thoughtful manner:

1. If there was a book title for your life, what would it be?

"The Road Less Traveled" seems to fit best. I've definitely faced my share of hairpin turns and dead-ends in my life, sometimes arriving at my destination nearly by accident, but I got there nonetheless. It hasn't been an easy road: some of the obstacles were placed in front of me by others, and some were self-imposed. Even with some of the unpleasantness, the journey has been worth the struggle, and I am grateful for having taken this particular road.

2. How did you and Naval Hubster meet?
Dan and I met through mutual friends. A college friend of mine (a sorority sister, actually) had a friend from another college who was in a professional fraernity with my husband-to-be. Those two friends shared a house after college and met one another's mutual friends. Dan and I ended up meeting at a get-together at my friend's apartment to watch the college basketball tournament in March 1993. We ended up seeing each other a few more times over the next month, and in late May I worked up my nerve to ask him out on a date! We began to date exclusively almost immediately, and we were married in May 1995.

3. Being the personality type that you are (almost the exact same as one of my best friends. she is an E), I know you like schedules and planning. What is the funniest "unplanned" thing that happened to you recently?

Gosh, I have a hard time thinking of unplanned things as funny - isn't that telling? Additionally, there hasn't been a whole lot of levity in my life in the past few months. This is the best I can do: I stoped at the grocery store on my way to work last week to pick up a deli sandwich for dinner. My store has a deal that gives you a free sandwich after you purchase 7 if you use their Club Card. I forgot my card, so I punched my phone number in to give me credit for my sandwich. The cashier said to me, "oh, this is your free one!" and I said, "no, it shouldn't be me free one yet." She asked, "are you Tracy?" I said no, I wasn't Tracy and I must have entered my number incorrectly. She replied, "oh, well you're getting Tracy's free sandwich!" I was embarassed and asked her to remove the free sandwich so "Tracy" could have it placed back onto her card for her use, but the cashier couldn't make it work. Imagine my surprise a few minutes later when I looked at my receipt and learned that "Tracy" is in fact someone I know, the wife of one of my husband's colleagues! I made sure to let her know that I owed her a freebie - thank goodness she was as amused as I was!

4. What is your favorite room in your home and why?

My favorite room in my house is my Family Room. It contains comfortable, beautiful furniture that my husband and I love to look at and relax in, as well as a few beautiful paintings we selected together. The furniture is sturdy enough to support three year-old gymnastics, which makes it an okay place for our son to climb and roll around. There's alos a door out to the backyard which, besides providing access also gives a lovely view of the flowers and our hummingbird guests. The Family Room is where we spend most of our family time. It's connected directly to our kitchen, so it allows for contact even when one of us is cooking or cleaning up. Our computer is also in that area, so it allows us all to be together even if one of us is working or playing on the computer.

5. What is one of your dearest childhood memories?

That's a tough one for me. I did not have a very pleasant childhood, so dear memories and harder to come by. I have some very happy and dear memories of time spent as a young girl with my father and stepmother. On weekends with them, we would often go on day trips and things we didn't usually do at my mom's house. We often went for walks and bike rides in a local state park where we would stop along the river and skip stones across the stream. My dad was an avid photographer, and we have photos of some of those walks. Now that my dad is gone, those pictures remind me of the refuge that he and my stepmother provided me from the chaos and stress of life at my mother's and the love I was so fortunate to have found with them.

Wonderful thoughts here, Alisha :D

Thank you for taking the time to do this and to let "us" know you a bit better.

I, too, haven't many good memories of my childhood, but when my girls got old enough to ask me to tell a "fun story" I had to quickly find something to tell. And doing so made me focus on the small things that did make me happy. I understand very well, Alisha.