| Summary of your bio over past 50 years: |
After much procrastination (due to the fact that it reminded me too much of the “Brag Sheet” I prepared for my kids when theywent off to college), I finally decided to take the plunge and write on my MMHS class of ’75 profile. After graduating from Milford, I attended Fairleigh Dickinson U in Teaneck, NJ, transferring a year later to U of MD in College Park where I graduated from in ’79 with a BA in English Education. After living on campus there for my sophomore and junior year, I commuted my senior year with fellow ’74 Miller, Cathi Coppel and student taught 11th grade English at Oakland Mills High School in Columbia. In 1979, I was hired to teach 8th grade English at Garrison Jr High in Baltimore City. My husband, Jay & I met after college graduation at a party I attended with follow ’76 Miller, Stacey Maslan. She actually facilitated this meeting by loudly announcing, “look, Janice, here’s one just your size,” when this cute, short fellow happened to walk by. From that moment on, we spent the entire evening together, and the next day, and next day, and next, culminating in our (erev) Thanksgiving (Wedneday evening) wedding in 1981. I am grateful for his loving, loyal, faithful, committed, mature and forgiving nature, as I no doubt tested his patience and the strength of our relationship, as I traversed the trials, tribulations and challenges of life, marriage & raising a family! Well, PS, our relationship won and we will be celebrating 44 years of marriage this November and it’s still going strong. He’s been right there beside me through the good, the bad and the ugly…illness, grief, the death of our parents, my OCD and my snoring,and he still loves me despite myself and even when I didn’t exactly love myself. So, the marriage lasted and flourishes, but the teaching job in Baltimore City, not so! I re-evaluated what I wanted to do and convince potential employers about the concept of “transferrable skills” in career development…which was no easy task. I was pigeon holed as an English teacher. I had kids, took a break from work and engaged in several short-lived careers, child care, administrative assistant positions and then went back to school and dabbled in different coursework, hoping to secure a new career and profession. My artsy/creativity side got the best of me and I ended up taking a nail technician course and started my own business as a nail tech (manicurist), first working in a salon, and later, marketing myself to the elderly population in senior apartments & buildings. Besides our short stature, this was another common denominator that Jay & I shared, a love for the elderly as he was a licensed nursing home administrator. Sadly, the sympathetic side of me took hold and knowing many of these elderly women lived in subsidized buildings, I charged so little that I barely covered my expenses. My favorite position was working with a Pikesville psychiatrist servicing his patients, ensuring he was up to date on his CEU’s, monitoring & sending over scripts electronically for psychotropic meds, and as I used to tell him, ensuring he was complying with the Hippocratic Oath even with the enticement of gifts, meals, travel & honorariums from the drug reps. Even after I retired at the end of 2020, he called me back offering me a real sweetheart deal a couple of hours a week working remotely. So back to my kids, I have a 37 year oldsingle daughter, Dara, living in Mt Washington who attended Rider U and U of Baltimore and is presently employed with the same psychiatrist I worked with. Her dream job and passion would be to secure employment with her beloved Baltimore Orioles or Ravens (or even a position in collegiate sports) but she has been unsuccessful. She did, however, receive a personal letter from David Rubenstein. My 35 year old single son, Todd, attended Yeshiva University while experimenting with an observant lifestyle, graduated from U of Balto, was in the Air Force and now lives in Silver Spring, first working for a contractor in Vienna, VA with the FBI tracking terrorists and now at NSA IN Fort Meade doing security clearance. After retiring, Jay & I are snowbirds and we purchased a condo in Delray Beach, FL and have declared FL residency (6 mo and a day). In our free time, we enjoy travelling and my bucket list includes visiting all 50 states (of which we have seen about 30 and hoping for good health to enjoy the other 20). We also make it a habit to tour the presidential libraries of any states we are visiting. The Nixon Library in CA did an impressive job with the elephant in the room! We also have done some international travelling and hope to do more. My passion is writing, shopping and the art of culinary cuisine. I am also an aspiring writer and my first book is in the works. Fully cognizant of the fragility of life, and with the popularity of Facebook and social media, I have been successful in finding and reconnecting with many friends and acquaintances from Bedford, Sudbrook and Milford. I am excited about seeing everyone Thursday evening at our 50threunion. |
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