Santa Barbara, CA. Holding baby Jack-o. 2002
Of my 6 sisters, Jill is the only one who I grew up living with. Her dad married our mom not long after he got back from Vietnam when I was about 7. And for the next 10 years or so he occasionally made my life miserable. Best thing he ever did was help create a human being like Jill—and he doesn't even know it. Some of the best times of my life were spent at Jill's house in Temecula. I'd just come off of 2 years of paid wanderlusting and a mystical, magical 8-month stretch of living on an organic farm/B&B on an island near Vancouver. My intention was to prepare for a teaching gig in Asia with a 3-month stay with Jill. Instead, I stayed about 3 years largely because I loved hanging out with Jill and her family so much.