Who is Vanessa?

I have always been one that believed that every person is born with at least one exceptional talent. I'm not talking about really big talents necessarily although every talent is big in my opinion. There are those people that can sing or act or manage a corporation (without becoming a greedy CEO) and some people that have the ability to look at something and see a simple connection that no one else has ever seen that perhaps solves a huge problem.  Case in point. I had a problem with a kitchen cupboard door. I have dark cherry wood cabinets in the kitchen that were there when we bought the house. The one door directly under the kitchen sink has a worn spot on the top probably from getting wet and just plain wear and tear but will be impossible to repair or cover. My solution? Reface all the cabinets or paint all the cabinets white. Expensive and time intensive. What does my guy do? He takes both doors to that cabinet off, flips them upside down and re-installs each door on the opposite side of the cabinet so that the hinge holes match up and the worn spot is on the bottom. Voile! You can't see the spot. What a simple solution and that is his talent! But I digress.

The point is that everyone has a special talent of some kind. Vanessa's talent is her imagination and ability to put it into words on a printed page. She has the potential for doing something great with that. She for some reason doesn't believe this or perhaps just wants to be difficult and rebellious about it (since I, several of her teachers, and an actual professional editor have pointed this out to her) but it is definitely her talent. She is a words smith. It is not her only talent.

Ness and Charlie her new companion. We
got him to keep her company after her sister
left to attend U.W.  Vanessa loves Charlie. 

She is also a caring and empathetic young girl who loves baby anythings. Animals, kids, you name it.  Babies love her.  Currently she thinks she may want to be a teacher. A noble profession and if she decides to pursue this path her education will still be such that she will be able to write also. A good teacher must be a good writer. Not to mention a good mathematician.  She also wants to travel and this is something that I think will expand her horizons and probably be the best education she can get in her case so I am all for it. She has always loved experiencing things that are different from her own life. Granted her life has been pretty quiet and "safe". As a parent that is what we all strive for when raising kids. Now it is time for her to get out in the world.

Vanessa is currently in her Senior year of high school and attending Everett Community College as a running start student. She is taking classes that fulfill her pre-requisites for graduating from high school but she is also taking Italian. She is actually in her second quarter of Italian. What she wants to do is a study abroad program next year in Italy. We will be working towards this end in the next year. In the mean time she is working her way through her senior year in high school and her freshman year of college at the same time and looking forward to graduation this June. I will keep you posted.