My favorite aphorism is: “Not all who wander are lost.”
That’s because I’ve wandered, wondered, and explored all my life. My path hasn’t been straight, and the long and winding roads have led me to be a wife, a mother, an educator, and a traveler. Upon leaving high school, the girl who was born with wings and had big plans to move around the world moved three blocks away from where I grew up. I wouldn’t change a thing.
My lifelong adventure since high school began with marrying my true love, Donny (PW class ‘80). Together we built a house, a family, and a life in our beloved Lafayette Hill, where we raised two amazing sons, Michael and Joseph; there’s nothing I am more proud of than my children. And though Donny passed away ten years ago, I see him in the eyes and smiles of our children.
Not only have I been fortunate to find love once in my early life, but as luck would have it, love found me again. My life partner, Cary, has renewed my sense of self, continues to inspire me to be my best self, and is one of my favorite travel partners for our adventures around this wonderful world of ours. The world truly is our oyster!
From working at the Ridge Pike drive-in during high school, where I let in carloads of friends that were hiding in trunks, to Continental Bank, where I served as an administrative assistant in the newly-created ATM department – we all remember MAC cards – my career track led me to do what I was truly meant to do: teach. I didn’t choose this career; rather, it chose me.
When my boys were little, I was fortunate enough to be able to stay at home as they grew. During these tender years, I volunteered at their nursery school and elementary school. I was recruited as an instructional aide in the Colonial School District in 1998, where I found my space. And though I didn’t attend college directly after high school, I took the unconventional route and began my undergraduate studies at Gwynedd Mercy College, earning a degree in Special Education, and then immediately followed up in the graduate program at Cabrini University, where I earned my Masters of Education. I’ve been working in Colonial as an 8th-grade English Language Arts teacher.
Working with young people day after day, year after year, I see myself in them. I recognize their insecurities, their hopes, and their quiet dreams. I always tell parents that they may not become Pulitzer Prize-winning authors when their children leave me, but I promise they will become better thinkers. I hope to instill in them the confidence to take risks, the courage to stand up for those who don’t have a voice, and the fortitude to fulfill their youthful dreams. And I remind them that through life’s challenges, there is good in the world, and it is their job to find it and be it. If I could tell my high school self anything, it would be to wander, wonder, and explore and not let anyone tell me I can’t.