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Today there are 13 people in my family. My wonderful husband, Marty Scheiner, died in 1992. Marty had three children — Charlie, Annie and Jim. My son is Peter. Marty and I adopted each other’s children so I have four legal children and they all have spouses. I love them all. Each one is so different from the others, but we all get along splendidly.
My daughter’s name is also Ann. (We are both called Annie) She and John have three grown children, Sharon, Chris and Dennis. Annie and John live in Maryland, close to Washington, D.C., in an old farmhouse, which they recently renovated. Annie is a family therapist and John works with computers. Their cat, Smokey, is 18 years old and doing well.
My granddaughter, Sharon, lives in Berkeley, California, with her cat, Hugo. She loves to create magical hats and scarves. She recently made me a scrabble pillow and a knitted hefalove. Sharon graduated from Brown and was a union organizer. Like many in the family, Sharon is a social activist. My grandson Chris and Marian live in New York with their cat, Phantom. Chris studies at Columbia University and Marian works in TV. My youngest grandson, Dennis, is a chef in San Francisco and also takes college courses.
My son, Peter, lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Jeanne, who is a talented artist. Peter is a retired educator and enjoys writing, photography and Internet research. They live on two acres of orchards and wild land. They love to walk their dog, Tiki, in the woods.
Charlie and Jill work to improve the lives of people who are the survivors of injustices. They live mostly in Timor Leste, near Australia. Their cats are Raven and Shadow. A cow and a buffalo graze in their yard and assorted frogs, lizards, spiders, and other creatures share their house.
My youngest son, Jim, recently married Sybil. They live in Tortola, an island in the Caribbean. Jim is a photographer on land and under the sea. His pictures are in many books and magazines. He and his late wife, Odile, started Rainbow Visions, a photography business. Sybil is a massage therapist, a wonderful cook, and has a sharp sense of humor.
We all scuba dive. With 13 of us, we fill up a dive boat!
For over 40 years, we’ve had at least one family reunion a year! We’ve traveled together all over the globe, including the Galapagos Islands, Central America, Europe, the Caribbean, Canada and many places in the U.S.A.
On my BIG birthdays, my family plans exciting and beautiful parties. For my last birthday, they filled a wall with pictures of my life, made travel t-shirts, and hung up a huge world map, with pins to show my Travel & Adventures.
When you read the story of Growing Up you’ll see why my loving family means so much to me.