Who is the person who had the most effect or influence on you growing up?
My mother: mom, wife, Nurse, gardener, farmer, seamstress, perpetual student, bookworm...she was pretty amazing.
Was there any specific event, in your life or in the world, that helped define you?
My divorce. My father used to say that you can't really become an adult until you've been completely humiliated by failure at least once. Broken down from that disaster, I was finally forced to mature.