I appreciate the beauty in nature and I love to capture it with my digital camera. I enjoy dancing.  Favorite music is Classic Country and Rock & Roll. I've been involved with netmarketing for 4years.   I believe in taking personal responsibility and I prefer to see the positive rather than negative.    I live with my husband who is my best friend and two Yorkshire Terriers.We've been happily married for 35 years.  We have a wonderful daughter, three terrific grandkids and a beautiful great granddaughter.    I'm the eldest of 4.  If you are the eldest in your family, you may feel responsible for everyone like I do.   For several reasons, health and well being is important to me.  When I was 10, my mother became ill.  It was several years before she was diagnosed with Crohns Disease.  She has had an illiostomy since the mid '70s. Then in 1997 she was diagnosed with Kidney Failure.  She passed away February 26, 2008 after almost 10 years as a dialysis patient.   1972 was a significant year in my life.  I quit school half way through my twelfth year.  My dad died in April of that year and I married in Aug a month before my 18th birthday.    At the age of 32 I went back to school and graduated.    Much of my life, I felt like an emotional wreck on a roller coaster.  I was often in the black hole of depression. I was twice hospitalized within a 2 year period.  The 2nd time in 1989, I was finally diagnosed as being an "inbetween" manic depressive.  Better known today as Bi-polar disorder.  The "inbetween" meant, my highs and lows aren't as extreme as other manic depresssives.    After problems with medications too numerous to mention here, I knew I needed to take back my life and I did.  I was told to do 3 things.    1.  Read the "Good Mood Therapy" by Dr David Burns.    2.  Take courses on depression to learn the causes and how it affects a person both emotionally and physically.    3.  Find a counsellor I could work with.  I was fortunate enough to do that. While I was learning about depression, I also learned about panic attacks.  At times I was debilitated with them for as much as a couple of weeks at a time.  Nobody, bothered to tell me, You don't fight a panic attack ... You let it happen!    A panic attack will only last 5-7 minutes if you just let it happen.  It takes some practise to do that, but believe me if you suffer with them its essential to know they are caused by an increase in adrenaline and if you fight it, you actually keep producing the adrenaline that's causing the problem in the first place.  Technically, it has to do with your "fight or flight" response.   I was fortunate to find a counsellor I could relate to.  She taught me how to see the positive side of ANY negative situation.  I learned to write down my negative thought(s) and turn them into a positive ones.  With practise it becomes automatic to acknowledge a negative thought and turn it into a positive one.  I learned ALL emotions are normal and must be acknowledged.  Emotions were never meant to be ignored.    I learned to say to myself, "This is what I'm feeling ... this is why I'm feeling it ... this is what I can do about it."   I began to chart my moods and learned the triggers that caused my depression and mood swings.  I also learned to take full responsibility for my feelings.   From Lorraine I learned to write Special Statements.  I've been writing "Specialisms" for family & friends since 1995.  I've also created "Specialism" verses specifically for  Dialysis patients, Teens and Anorexics.   My husband's job provided a good income.  Although we weren't wealthy we were comfortable with our middle-class lifestyle and I always felt "rich."  I was a stay at home mom.  In the early '80s, my nephew lived with us for  2 1/2 years and I babysat my cousin's daughter for about the same amount of time.   From 1987 to 1991 we had 2 teenage foster boys that we cared for until the youngest turned 19.   I was 48 when I was "drawn" to net marketing.  Its been a learning experience of trial & errors mixed with moments of jubilation!  I didn't even know how to copy & paste.    I was sitting at the old 'puter one day in Jan 2003 and this pop up came onto the screen.  It said something like, "How would you like to earn $10,000 a week?"  I was thinking, "Oh ya, right!" ... My hubby said, "Go for it!" ... so I did!  Little did I know our lives would be forever changed that year.   In Aug of the same year The mill my husband worked at for almost 32 years was destroyed by the wild fire that swept through our valley.  The company chose not to rebuild.    Not only did we lose the lifestyle we had taken for granted, but we lost our sense of security.  My  perception of being "rich" dramatically changed.  My "Oh ya, right" attitude kicked in.  I could see success on the net was possible.  "Not for me," is what my attitude was saying.    I found myself not only feeling poor, but acting poor.  Suddenly, I could no longer afford this or that.  I constantly worried about our finances and I worried about not "making it" as a net marketer. I began to focus on what I wasn't making rather than what I was learning.  Because of that, I made a lot of very expensive mistakes.    I went from having fun learning about netmarketing to being needy and desperate.  I've learned since that being needy allows for desperation and desperation in turn allows for poor judgement and mistakes.    In May 2006, I "happened" upon a website regarding Gratitude.  It's just another of those steps that is taking me in the direction of my success.  What I've learned from that one website has been phenomenal. Since acknowledging Gratitude, I've been experiencing the feeling of being "rich" again.  It's a wonderful feeling and I'm grateful to have it back!   I've learned a lot about myself; my strengths and weaknesses, what's important and what isn't.  I've also learned success is not necessarily monetary.   I no longer feel the need to have to prove myself.  I am who I am today, because of what I have learned about myself through past unpleasant experiences and working online.  I acknowledge my unpleasant experiences and am grateful for them.  Without going through the 'ell of depression and the side effects of medications, I wouldn't likely have learned how to write my "Specialisms" or see that ALL negatives have a positive.    Success is an Attitude ... its how you see yourself that counts.  I didn't see myself as anything except a successful wife & mother.  I've learned since, I can be a successful in other ways as well.   My passion is writing words that will give another perspective, to help others feel good about themselves and to bring hope to those who need it. I believe we've all been put here to learn and teach specific life lessons.  We don't always know who we touch in our lifetime or why, but it happens everyday and I am grateful to everyone who has touched mine, especially my family, friends and the virtual strangers who have become friends.   I don't believe success was meant for just a select few.  Ginny Dye created MPM in such a way that anybody who truly desires success can be successful with it.  Its FREE to join ... supplies all the necessary tools FREE and is an effective way to earn an income without going broke in the process.  Its become one of my ways to Make A Difference.  In Ginny's words, "Together We Can Change The World!"   I like SIMPLE and I like FUN!   I believe in Making A Difference!   I believe in TEAM work.    I believe in one step at a time ... one day at a time ... one new team member at a time        To learn more about Depression please visit the "All About Depression" forum. http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/thread/648775.aspx