After earning a BA in English from Vanderbilt University I worked in the corporate world for ten years eventually becoming a financial analyst at a Fortune 500 company. Those years taught me a couple of important lessons: first, my parents were right, I really COULD do anything I set my mind to and second, corporate life was not for me. So I headed back to school, earning an MA in Anthropology from Arizona State University followed by a PhD in Geography from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Teaching beckoned and after stints at the University of Toledo followed by Texas State University, I retired as an Associate Professor with numerous peer-reviewed articles and a co-edited book, "Geospatial Techniques in Urban Hazard and Disaster Analysis" under my belt. My retirement coincided with the start of what (we didn't know at the time) would be our five-year journey caring for my spouse's Mom. "The Caregiver's Journey: A Roadmap for Navigating Your Path" sprang out of those years and was specifically created to provide information to other caregivers that could be used to smooth their paths. Currently, Raylene and I continue to promote our book, while I indulge my passion for landscape photography and work on other writing projects.