Dogs scare me the most and this is because I suffered a dog mauling as a young kid of 10 years old – facial scars, arm, and leg. Medical technology in a small town in the 70s was such that the facial scars were still pretty noticeable, and kids that age can be cruel, so I had to build a strong exterior as a kid to work through it. Many years later, my partner recommended I talk to a plastic surgeon to see if scars could be reduced – and to my delight, they could and ultimately were! To this day, however, I still momentarily freeze when a dog approaches me.

The craziest thing I’d do for the one I love? Haha – what a choice amongst many potentially crazy things. I think anything that involves free-falling in gravity, like sky diving and bungee jumping, for example. I’m terribly afraid of heights and easily get vertigo, so that’s why I’d consider it craziest. One other crazy idea: marriage.

I have a lot of movies I like, but my favorite has to be “Beautiful Thing” about young love being found and developing even in the face of adversity. Since I didn’t really come out to myself until I left university at the age of 23, and being gay was becoming more “accepted”, I’ve never had to face the kind of life these young men did. I watch it to remind myself how fortunate I really am – and because I love the dance at the end of the movie. I really am a romantic at heart!

I am not a member of any organized sport, but I regularly do two things: jog and bike ride. I usually jog on a treadmill because I like to catch up on all the podcasts that I never have time for during the day – going for a jog outside can be an obstacle course that takes my concentration away from my listening. I’ve had to slow my jogging down lately because an old mountain climbing injury involving my knee joint has begun flaring up, and is the reason I took up biking. Biking has a lot less joint impact and allows me to go much farther than jogging. Fortunately, the Redding, California, area where I live has lots of great bike/pedestrian trails, and the mild weather (rarely below 0C/32F) allows me to do it virtually year-round.

Funniest experience at work was several years ago. Back then, my cubicle had an open wall that faced a balcony exit. One morning I had placed a big stack of résumés I had to review for later and a paper cup of water just above my keyboard tray. I left for a meeting and when I returned, I tried typing on my keyboard – and it didn’t work. I didn’t have time to fix it so I just went onto reviewing the résumés. As I read through them, I was puzzled because some had weird mixes of experience and didn’t seem like they went together. As it turns out, a lady across the hall – seeing my puzzled looks, guiltily admitted that when she had gone out to the balcony, a fierce wind had blown in, spilled the water on my keyboard, and blew my paper stack on the floor. She dried the keyboard, got more water, and thought the paper pile had been put together properly, so thought I wouldn’t notice a thing. Glad I did or it would have been an odd set of interviews later on given the résumés I had. We have a great laugh about it even to this day.

I used to be much more sporty then nowadays, I guess “age” has part in that, but also “time”. I practiced volleyball for many years, until my shoulders cried to stop!

But my biggest passion is windsurfing. My dad and granddad were sailors, where my dad was even a European champion in the 70’s and so the sport was part of my life from the moment I was born. I can sail and also did some competition in that, but the windsurfing is really more me. I started when I was 14 years old and I have participated in some competitions where many men were challenged by me. Nowadays I try to go windsurfing once in a while for pure fun and adrenaline to the lakes in the Netherlands enjoying wind and water. From sailing perspective I regularly go sailing with my dad who has a small yacht and we even participated a few times to the “ALU regatta”.

Jellyfish…As a windsurfer my greatest fear. I once saw on Miami beach the Portuguese man o’ war (Physalia physalis), and I slightly touched her tentacles with my foot… it was soooo painful… and the trouble is that one cannot always see whether that “simple” animal has tentacles or not!

I was married to a man for 11 years and we have 2 lovely daughters. I always felt that I did not have the connection with men that other women that I knew did, but it wasn’t until many years after I married that I understood what that really meant. It was a struggle for me emotionally as I grew to understand that I was a Lesbian. In 2006 I was able to make the tough and right decision to come out to my friends and family. My husband and I divorced, keeping a positive communication for the sake of our kids.

In 2008 I married the love of my life and since then I live a very happy life while enjoying a co-parenting arrangement with my ex-husband for the two girls. This has been difficult for my parents, but now they also accept me as I am, and realize I am still the same daughter as I was before I came out.

My coming out was never an issue, not in my private or professional life. I am very open about it and experience that when one behaves as it is the most normal thing in life, your environment does the same.

I must admit that I do live in a country and city that supports diversity in all its senses. I hope that my knowledge and experience build up from my own situation can help GLBT people and their families to feel good in their skin.

Singing and making music. I sing in a folk group ZEIL (own Dutch songs) and I am the lead singer in a cover band RockFort . Both on amateur level. Especially the cover band RockFort gives me joy and fun. We are four ALU employees, drums, guitar, bass and vocals, and we bring a brought repertoire from the 60’s till now…. We played at some parties and even entertained the all staff meeting 2 years ago for ALU Bell. Within the folk band ZEIL we are 6 to sing and make music (flute, drums, guitars, …) and whenever I can I will sit behind drums, or pick up some percussion… Unfortunately I did not have any musical education besides basic solfege at school, but I play and sing from my heart and I am blessed with a pretty good feeling for rhythm;-)

Laugh and cry: Mama Mia – the movie with Meryl Streep…amazing how this movie touches my emotions in both ways..if I do feel down , I watch this one, sing along and cry my heart out when all that love is in the air!