I LOVE PARIS IN THE SPRING TIME

It has been so wonderful to read about everyone's life journey since our days at Alemany. Here's my own story.

I went to Mount Saint Mary's and met my husband, Ed, in December of my freshman year. He was a junior at Loyola, and after he graduated he was accepted to Tulane medical school. We were married in June 1969 and moved to New Orleans. I worked at the med school in the Opthalmology department til we moved back here, and worked in related fields until we started our family. We've lived in the same house in Chatsworth since 1975, and I think there should be an award at the reunion for the person who has lived the longest in the same house and I should win.

We have three children, and they all went to Alemany. Elizabeth is 31 and teaches kindergarten in North Hills with LAUSD. We're having a good time planning her June wedding. Tony is 29, married one year, and is a Math professor at Cal State LA. His dissertation was on Number Theory which apparently has no practical use whatsoever but he is still employed. Go figure. Andrew is 27, got a Philosophy degree at UCLA, and so, natch, works as wine distribution rep in Fresno. He also has a culinary degree, so whenever I know he's coming over I just set out weird, unrelated ingredients and we eat like kings.

After the kids started school, I went in a totally different direction and got a four year, Professional Certification in Interior and Environmental Design at UCLA Extension. It was a heavily architecturally based program, which I really liked, although I enjoy both the decorating and designing aspects of my job. I have a solo business, and most of my work is residential, although I have done some commercial as well.

My husband Ed has worked at Kaiser Woodland Hills in the Family Practice department for 30 years and figured that's enough for anybody, so he's retiring on October 23rd. We are quite excited about this new adventure and hope to travel a little more often now. We've been on several trips in the US and Europe, most recently to Paris with all the kids, which was an absolute blast.

Thank you all for sharing your stories - the joyful moments as well as the challenging. I know that our lives only touched for a few short years, but that time was so precious. God bless each of you, and I look forward to seeing you at the reunion.

Adrienne (Poirier) Shaheen

Paris, France (In my dreams)

actually Chatsworth CA