During the 1970s, spirituality took on greater importance in my life. In 1980, I married Matthew Tate, who later became an Orthodox priest, and we soon became parents to two daughters. During the child-rearing years, my interest in writing gradually supplanted my focus on producing artwork. I journaled constantly and wrote stories for the children.

 

In my mid-fifties, I took a Master’s degree for teaching the Blind and Visually Impaired. This degree helped me develop clarity and precision in my writing. Throughout my twelve years teaching Blind students, I gained skill in the use of incisive words in my spoken language, and became increasingly aware of how words bring sensory information into sharp focus.

 

With an innate wanderlust and interest in other cultures, I hitchhiked extensively during my twenties and later traveled to India, Turkey, Nepal, China, Europe, Israel, the British Isles. I volunteered with blind orphans in China, during the summers of 2006 and 2007, and did art and poetry workshops with orphans in Nepal in 2012, after retiring from teaching.

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While still teaching high school, I grew interested in creative nonfiction writing and began taking workshops. In 2005, Portland writer and teacher, Martha Gies prompted our group to write a personal essay about someone who had impacted our early lives. Without deliberation, I knew that person was Wayne Ngan; he’d had more influence on me, from the time I was twelve, than anyone except my parents. A year later, I decided to create a portrait of Wayne – a biography interwoven with personal memories. In 2006, I began interviewing him, a process I continued for years, while honing my writing skills.

 

In the long course of writing about my lifelong friend, I learned so much about him, and also about the writing process. Participation in the writing community in Portland, Oregon has become an important aspect of my life and has engendered deep and enduring relationships with other creative writers.