ANN McGOVERN'S FAMILY

Four children and their mates, three grandchildren, and Ann, 2000

Today my family numbers 11 people. My daughter, Annie and her husband John live in Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. They have three children, Sharon, Chris, and Dennis, and a cat called Smoky. Sharon, a senior in high school, has won awards in math and science, Chris, now in high school, has produced many videos, and Dennis is in 7th grade and is a computer programmer. John works with computers and Annie works with a parenting program. My oldest son, Peter, lives in Portland, Oregon and visits his talented artist girlfriend, Jeanne, in Bellingham Washington on alternating weekends. Peter teaches computers at Portland Community College. Next is Charlie, who lives about an hour away from New York City. He and Jill are always busy with projects to help solve the world's problems. They have two cats, Babylon and Kiquan.

My youngest son, Jim, lives with his wife Odile and their two dogs -- Bilas and Kiva -- in Tortola, an island in the Caribbean. Jim and Odile work underwater! They teach underwater photography and make videos of people diving beneath the sea. They write and take photographs for books and magazines about the underwater world and they lead a scuba diving expedition every year to someplace wonderful.

I have two granddogs, three grandcats, and three grandchildren. We all scuba dive. With all 12 of us, we fill up a dive boat! (No, the cats and dogs don't dive!) I couldn't ask for a more wonderful family.