Chosen
Coming 8/11/26!
Locked in a closet at the age of three, driving at age eight and forced to hunt for food when I was nine. My beautiful, schizophrenic mother and angry, inventor father bartered my labor and for a few months, I lived alone in a trailer, stealing food to survive. My nomadic upbringing stretched from the mountains of Utah to the flat farmlands of Idaho and across to California.
After years of abuse growing up, I escaped to college, put myself through law school and rose to the head of litigation at Apple. A move east, now with my two children to raise, and a chance encounter found us welcoming three young football players on scholarship into our home, and so began a journey that navigated the challenges of race, class, prejudice, addiction, and abandonment.
This is a story about my chosen family, and the wonder of the healing power of love.
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About the author
Born in California, I grew up across the West. My harrowing, nomadic childhood included living in a shack without electricity or running water. After putting myself through college at the University of California Los Angeles and law school at University of Southern California, I became the director of litigation for Apple Computer, Inc., in 1998. Later, I moved to the Washington, D.C., suburbs with my two biological children, where we opened our home and hearts to eight more. In the D.C. area, I represented domestic abuse survivors and their children, including as a Guardian Ad Litem in the D.C. Superior Court. Over the years, I’ve been actively involved on the boards of multiple academic, public, and nonprofit institutions. Today, I’m in private practice, living in rural Colorado with my two dogs, Twelve and Thor, and serving as president of the regional fire board. My large, amazing family visits often.