About the Author

Dear Readers,

Just when I think there’s not much to tell, I try to write it down, and there’s too much. All you have to do is live long enough, and there’s too much.

I graduated from Texas City High School in 1964. I worked, traveled, got married, had a perfect baby boy, and with my penchant for doing things out of order, I went to college. I graduated from the University of Memphis in 1976, Magna Cum Laude (I worked hard for that). I had another child, this time a perfect baby girl.

My government career earned me a small annuity and good health insurance. I had jobs I loved and jobs I hated, but I never had a boring job. I worked for:

• NASA Johnson Space Center (Houston)
• The United States Air Forces in Europe (Germany)
• The 23^rd Air Division (Duluth, Minnesota)
• The University of Tennessee at Memphis
• Harland Bartholomew, Civil Engineering and City Planning (Memphis, Tennessee)
• The Air Force Office at Lockheed (Atlanta, Georgia)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Georgia)
• The United States Department of State, Paris, France, and Washington DC

I lived in:

• Tampa, Florida
• San Antonio, Texas
• New Castle, Pennsylvania
• Texas City, Texas
• Houston, Texas
• Wiesbaden, Germany
• Cloquet, Minnesota
• Memphis, Tennessee
• Chicago, Illinois
• Dayton, Ohio
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Charleston, South Carolina
• Paris, France
• Washington, DC
• Fairfax, Virginia

I’ve published short stories and articles in conjunction with my job as a medical writer/editor at the CDC. I wrote two novels that have never seen the light of day and never will.

Just for fun and in no particular order, here are some other things:

• 3rd place in a water skiing contest, NASA picnic, Dickenson Bayou (four contestants).
• 1st place in the Atlanta Ski Club ladies down-hill race, Vail, CO (20+ contestants).
• 1st Place Team, Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association.
• Two Outstanding Achievement Awards (U.S. Air Force, U.S. Department of State).
• Taught English as a Second Language, Literacy Council of Northern Virginia.
• Sang first Soprano in the Vienna Choral Society.
• Put $20 on a long shot and won $1,000 at a Kentucky Derby party.
• Attended Elvis Presley’s funeral.

There’s more, but that’s enough.

Rebecca Long Hayden, July 7, 2015