Me, late 70s, maybe early 80's.

Growing up in the 80s has molded my fascination of story telling. Movies like Goonies and The Princess Bride were tape-recorded and replayed over and over again - I can recite each character's lines, word for word. I read and re-read Animal Farm, Dune, and all the Hardy Boy's mysteries. I fell in love with Where the Sidewalk Ends, a collection of poetry from Shel Silverstein, and a poetry book from 7th grade titled The World Of Poetry which I stole from the Daniel Carter Beard Junior High School library. I had journals filled with poetry and short stories, and countless notebooks fills with doodles of all sorts. I have been writing for as long as I can remember.

Me and my bro.

Playing sports was a huge part of my childhood, which was quite unusual for a girl growing up in a Latino community in Flushing, Queens. I was lucky enough to have a brother who didn't mind dragging along a little sister to the baseball field, or basketball court, or to play manhunt in the backyards of connecting houses. We played ball until the sun set, and rode our bikes home without worry. Those were the best of times . . .

I had two dreams growing up. The first dream was to be the first female short stop for the New York Mets. Yes, I was a huge fan of the 86' Mets -- my brother and I would walk to Shea Stadium to watch the Mets play. I was determined to be the first female short stop, so I played baseball with my brother and his friends for most of grade school. I was pretty damn good, and I set my goals to, one day, play at Shea Stadium.

Obviously, that dream didn't come true, and I lost all interest in following the Mets as soon as I graduated college and started working. I did, however, continue playing sports. It's just in my blood.

My second dream was to "write books", and here I am. Fantasy, science fiction, romance, children's stories, poetry... I write as my muse dictates. One thing I've learned is that constant writing is hard work, and it takes a lot of perseverance. Ask any writer and they will tell you it's damn hard. But, no good thing in life comes easy.
I'm still athletic, but now I play sports mostly with my kids and their teams. I run a mean 5k a few times a week, and a 10k now and then. My 10ks will someday become a marathon if my feet can take the pounding. I dream of one day doing a full pull-up from an extended-arms-hanging position. You can find me at the playground hanging from the monkey bars right next to my son and his friends. So far, he doesn't mind.

I'm all over social media, so stop by and say "Hi!", tell me all about your childhood dreams, or share a kids joke. Here's one my son told me in 2nd grade:

Question: What do you call a blind dinosaur?

Answer: A do-you-think-he-saw-us!

Cheers!