A bit to begin....

2006-02-28T01:08:00.000-05:00

Well....takin' it back a bit.....

Born in Michigan in '73 and lived there until '84. Parents divorced and my mother, I and two sibs moved to Arkansas (which I usually don't make known to most of the public). My dad and remainder of my family stayed in Michigan and my dad remarried 5 years later to our old Avon lady, who was friends with my mom. Nothing suspicious though....in case you were wondering. My mom remarried quite soon after moving to AR...and I must say that she married the typical definition of a "Step-monster". Whatever....so I spent 12 yrs stuck in AR where I finished school and moved onto college at Univ of Central AR.

I have to say....AR education sucks!! Anywho...went to college, met a guy...he rocked my world and then decided to ruin it all within 4 years. Moved on toward my career, continued my education, and then met my first husband. We lived in AR for a bit, and then moved to S. Cali until 2000. Pursued acting, continued my education and spent lots of time outdoors!! Loved Cali...loved it, loved it, loved it!!! I am a total beach girl!!

So in 2000, shit happens and my life took a turn in the road...for better or worse depending how you look at it. I divorced my husband, regrettably moved from S. Cali back to AR for a bit and was soon diagnosed with cancer, Feb. 2001. I spent 9 months of hell on earth undergoing chemo, radiation, surgeries and looking freakishly thin due to not keeping anything down. I must say...that stupid saying about "what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger".... it's true!

That time sucked but I am a better person because of it. When you are faced with your own mortality, it tends to make you rethink what is truly important in your life. The other wonderful experience that came out of that time, was meeting my husband. We met right after my diagnosis and he stuck it out with me until the end. You have to give him credit for that! So my treatments ended, my guy (who was in the Air Force) moved to Alaska and I spent 6 more months in AR and then moved to Alaska myself....for 3 long, freaking years!!! My husband was deployed to Asia often, so I bought the best dog in the world...my Maltese, Cosmopolitan (named after my favorite drink at the time).

So been there done that in Alaska....and finally got out of there, well at least as my permanent residence in June 2004. We moved to N. Carolina, I started my own technology consulting firm, Winder Technologies, Inc, continued my education.....yes I am a career student! I work in the field of technology, which changes about every 6 months...give a girl a break! My husband, still in the Air Force, deploys to the desert about 7 months of the year....which sucks, but what can you do! We bought an awesome house on a half acre of land, furnished it nicely and went on with our lives.

He stayed deployed a lot, I traveled the U.S. for my company....obviously we were high-fiving in the doorway every now and again. What's the saying..."love makes the heart grow fonder"....bullshit....it makes the heart grow distant! Whomever said "Freedom is free", never loved a soldier! So needless to say, our marriage was shaky for a bit but we worked through it.

During that time of trials and tribulations and lots of traveling....my father-in-law was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and passed away 3 weeks later on April 20, 2005. Who knew? No one expected that at all!! He was an awesome man and touched everyone he knew in some way. Dealing with that was hard enough....whatever....who deals with that....how do you deal with that? Still doing it I guess....

And the long story of my summarized life goes on.... (just trying to get you up to today is all)...
Well, while in Alaska on a business trip I received an awaited call from my doctor regarding some tests we were running....I found a lump in my breast again and my back pain was progressing immensely over the past 6 months. So my doc proceeds to tell me that I have a mass on my breast and that I have degenerative disk disease in my spine .... meaning I needed spinal surgery! WTF???

So back to N. Carolina I went to have a lumpectomy for the mass, which ended up being 2 cysts...thank God...and then having a 5-hour spinal surgery in Oct. 2005. Still recovering, but doing a hell of a lot better now! So being the tenacious woman that I am....life goes on! I continued traveling the country for business and visiting friends and family along the way. I have some of the greatest friends in the world! I would cut off my arm for any of them!

In late October 2005, my youngest sis had my first nephew and he is soooooo awesome!!! Looks just like my sis, who is quite awesome herself....they still live in AR. The holidays were alright...spent time in AR with some family, recovering from spinal surgery. Then in February 2006, my best friend of 14 years had her first son and I still have yet to see him in person....but another fabulous cutie!!! I continued my education and spent more time on the road for business. I have had some family visit me in N. Carolina, which has been great...but I miss them more each day! I have spent a lot of time in Anchorage, Alaska...Atlanta, GA...and Nashville, TN with my clients. My business is going really well....so now I am sub-contracting out some of the technology work....interested? Only serious inquires may send a resume to jobs@windertechnologies.com.

I have been keeping in contact with my buddies over the phone, via email and on MySpace. Check out my page: www.myspace.com/amika2. MySpace is so addicting, but I have met some great people on there!

Well now I bring you to my current day-in-the-life of Amika....details provided in my next blog...

Until then.....Chao and Cheers!
Amika

A Functionally Disfunctional Life!

A bit to begin....