I've spent 60 percent of my life in school. I didn't like school. I fact, I hated it. I found very little peace, compassion, nature, and beauty in school. Just the opposite. My higher education is in music, not creative writing or English. Go figure. Or if there are any professorial types out there you can smirk and say to your scholarly friends, "It figures."In my 40s, while still writing my Ph.D. dissertation, and suffering from academically induced PTSD, I got into a rock band and wrote lots of song lyrics. Hence, I became a poet, and never finished my degree.I'm also a classical guitarist and painter. I'm married to a fabulous master gardener, humanist, poet, and novelist. Between us, we have four wonderful adult children and a beautiful grandchild.