Kathleen, Queen of the Desert

ANCESTRY
I am of German, Dutch, Scottish, and English ancestry.
My father and mother were from Lakewood, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb.
My parents met in the Lakewood High School band.
Grandfather Fruend owned a hardware store. He was born in Toledo.
Grandfather Grossman was a symphony conductor. He was born in Cleveland.
Grandmother Fruend sold Chataqua programs. She met Grandpa on a train.
Grandmother Grossman had just finished high school when she met Grandpa at choir practice.
My parents moved to California so my father could get into the movie business.
My parents divorced after 23 years of marriage.
My parents have both died.

BIRTH FAMILY LIFE
I was born on a winter morning.
I grew up in California, just south of LAX and a mile from the ocean.
Harry Truman was President when I was born.
I weighed 7 pounds.
I was my parents’ first child.
I am named after my mother Helen and my grandmother Helen.
I am called by my middle name.
My family nickname is “Bug.”
I have two younger brothers.
I am the only one of my parents’ children who had children.

When I was 9, I wanted to be an archaeologist and go to Egypt to dig.
When I was 13, I wanted to play softball.
When I was 18, I was tired of school and didn’t want to go to college.
When I was 22, I graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara.
When I was 23, I went to Paris on a one-way ticket
When I was 25, I wanted to be a country and western star.
When I was 33, I got married.
When I was 34, I had my first child.
When I was 40, I had my last child.
When I was 57, I went to Egypt for the first time.

RELATIONSHIPS AND THE MOVING LIFE
A friend of my brother’s was my boyfriend for three years in high school.
I met a guy on crutches in college. We went together three years.
I went to Paris on a one-way ticket in 1971.
I met another guy on the steps of the Pantheon three weeks later.
I moved to Chicago in 1972.
I moved to Brooklyn in 1975.
I met my husband in 1979 when he moved into the apartment next to my rental house.
I married him in 1981.
We took a month-long honeymoon throughout the western U.S.
We have been married for 25 years.

EDUCATIONAL LIFE
I graduated from the UC Santa Barbara with an English degree.
I got certified to be a teacher in Chicago.
I earned 30 credits of teaching credits at University Of New Mexico.
I am working on a Master of Professional Communication degree at Westminster College.
I took a Berlitz Arabic class in Dubai.

WORK LIFE
I was a cook and waitress at Taco Bill’s Mexican restaurant in Hermosa Beach.
I was a waitress for the San Francisco 49ers summer training camp.
I worked in UCSB’s Arts & Music Library.
I was a preschool music teacher for a year.
I worked in the Singer Freiden factory testing cash registers in Albuquerque.
I worked as a secretary for three years in Chicago and went to night school.
I taught first, second, and third grades in Albuquerque for five years.
I taught my sons at home for eight years.
I was accredited as a Leader with La Leche League in 1985.
I have been a cartoonist for La Leche League’s magazine LEAVEN for over ten years.

MUSICAL LIFE
I sang with my church choir for three years in high school.
I sang in our church’s productions of “Bye Bye Birdie” and “The Music Man” in high school.
I sang in a folk trio in college for a year.
I heard “Help Me Make It Through the Night” while stopped at a traffic light and wanted to be a country & western singer.
I sang in the band “Country Rye” in Cincinnati.
I wrote 30 songs during a four-month non-working period in Brooklyn, New York.
I admire Gladys Knight and Etta James but sing more like Loretta Lynn.
I played in small clubs and bars as a solo act in Albuquerque.
I sang at my mother’s Unitarian church every summer for many years.
I haven’t sung or played the guitar in a long time.

I had my first son in 1982.
I had my second son in 1985.
I had my third son in 1988.
I love little kids.
I am looking forward to being a grandmother.

I lived in California for the first 22 years of my life.
As a single person I lived in New Mexico, Illinois, Ohio, and back to New Mexico.
As a a married person I’ve moved 14 times, living in New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Alaska, Nova Scotia, Pennsylvania, Utah, Dubai, and now back in Utah.
My husband and I are a great moving team: forgiving, energetic, and non-traditional thinkers.
I lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for ten months.

I am a morning person.
I am a planner.
I get agitated if things happen too fast or if I have to be spontaneous.
I walk every morning for 45 minutes.
I am an introvert and enjoy time alone.
I love animals and am now taking care of my son’s cat.
I would like to live on a farm.
I am not a religious person.
I love foggy winter beach weather.
I am a small-town person.

HOME LIFE
I live in a house in a suburb.
I enjoy doing my own housework, even ironing.
I have one son in high school.
I have taken up painting again.
I have a one-woman painting show at the Sandy Library until January 31, 2007.
I can drive a stick shift.
I have been in five car accidents, none of which were my fault.
I get crabby when the weather’s hot and humid.
I don’t like my two older sons being so far away.
I get anxious about being gone from my family when I travel . . . but I love to travel.

WRITING LIFE
I majored in English in college, and took one creative writing class.
I worked as an editorial secretary for the Henry Regnery Company in Chicago where I wrote hundreds of rejection letters to authors.
I wrote a weekly column for The Nome Nugget newspaper.
I edited newsletters for La Leche League for over ten years.
I was in a writing group in Dubai.
I would like to teach writing some day.