Comments:
I came to New York for college in September 1964, and never left. I worked as a teacher, paralegal, librarian, storyteller and writer, among other briefer jobs, and I'm now retired from a middle school library. In 1975 I married a fellow Columbia University student, George Budabin, and we raised seven children, both born to us and adopted. In 1987 I converted to Judaism. In 2006 my husband died of lung cancer, and I am still struggling to figure out my life without the best person in it.
However, I have five of my children in the metropolitan area, three grandchildren including one close enough to babysit, houses in the Bronx and on Cape Cod, and an abiding interest in reading, learning and writing.
Update, November 2017: Now there are just three children in New York, but five grandchildren all told. I spend a fair amount of my time babysitting and enjoying them.
I sold the house in the Bronx, and moved to a rented apartment in Northern Manhattan, the better to enjoy jazz, plays, museums and classes in the city. I have begun to travel a lot, and really enjoy it -- Egypt, and a cruise in New Zealand and Australia last year; South Africa three years ago and many short trips in the States. I still come occasionally to Tucson: though I lived there only three years, my parents stayed, and I still love the area.
