Eve Out of The Garden: About this Eve....

Contact: deila@eveoutofthegarden.com

I was born on Valentine’s Day.

So I have always loved

red and pink hearts,

cupids,

heart shaped sugar cookies with pink frosting,

silly, cheap valentines that come in boxes,

making valentines with ribbons and lace,

flowers,

and of course--

expensive chocolates.

It is also special because back in 1976 I received a box of sees candy (hand picked, all my fav dark choc) and two yellow tulips left at my doorstep, with a little hand scribbled note, “happy valentine’s day, gene taylor”, a guy I had met earlier that week in the quad at Occidental College, and later married.

I loved school and I still love to learn. I wish I could study in several different fields. However, in college I chose biochemistry and in graduate school I studied pharmacology and nutrition. I grew up in the era when women were being told that they needed and could do more than just be a mother. That was a strong drive for me. And I wanted to be a doctor. I had planned on leaving my kids with babysitters, had even asked my sister if she would be interested in watching my kids, so that I could be “more than just a mom”.

After interviewing with a female doctor, and talking with her own daughter about how she was raised by several nannies, I chose not to go on to a medical career. I remember the daughter’s face when she told the story with amusement that when she had been asked if her mom could sew a costume for the school play, she said, “my mom only sews skin.”

I desperately started searching for that career that would allow me to be a mom and more than a mom.

I never found that career, but I found that being a mom was more.

I have five kids.

I have two granddaughters.

I homeschool. After sending two kids through the government public school system, I jumped into the water with homeschooling. I began with my third child, at the age of seventh grade, and then quickly added my fourth child who was in fifth grade, pulling him out right after "back to school night."Both have moved on to college, leaving child number five, at grade 9, the lone ranger.

I love homeschooling. I get to continue to learn. It is a job. I get paid, but not in monetary ways.

I love to write.

I love to read, but feel a little guilty reading fiction, or books with no value. (humor is a value)

I am a Mormon. I love studying the gospel, and Hugh Nibley is one of my favorite authors and teachers. But I am adding more to this list. It is a religion that has depth and breadth that gives me reason to search for greater light and knowledge. A religion that embraces all truth, wherever it is found.

Two sons are married, my daughter is married and has blessed us with two little granddaughters.

I have two wonderful daughters-in-law. They have that spirit of being kind and good. They fit into our family as if they had always been part of it. My son-in-law is a good man, that takes care of my daughter and grandkids. He is the calm anchor that my daughter needs.

I work with my husband in his business of alternative fuels. He has long been designing, building and testing gasification systems to produce a newer, cleaner fuel.

I have two sisters. They make me laugh.

I am a blonde in so many ways.

I listen to talk radio, I guess that makes me a conservative.

I am a native Californian, second generation.

I love to walk and hike among the oaks with my husband, kids, and german shepherd.

I try often to stop and smell the roses and lavender in my garden--and keep the vines from growing over them.

As of this writing, I have been Eve, out of the garden, for 50+ years. Wow.