Jeannie

Born in New York City
San Francisco resident since 1978

Hi, my name is Jeannie. I love living in San Francisco because it offers so much for seniors. There is so much to do and I am very content living where I live. My favorite home, I had an acre of lakefront property in Upstate New York. It was a small little house but we had swimming in the summer, skating in the winter. We had wild berry bushes. I loved that little house. I lived there with my husband and my three children and my seven ducks. I had gone back to work at Reader’s Digest and we’d get off at midnight doing data entry and you are sitting in your car waiting for it to warm up at 20 below, so my husband said, do you want to transfer? I said anyplace warm. We came to California in 1978. So I’ve been in California longer than I was in New York. We came to Milpitas and I had a beautiful home there. I was a foster parent for 11 years. It was the hardest I ever worked in my life, but I felt I made an immediate effect on society and what I did counted. And they called me Mom. Over 230 kids, taking them directly from a trauma situation into my home. We lost our home to foreclosure. My husband flipped out. I ended up on drugs. It was like a breakdown for both of us. But I worked the whole time. I was, what do they call that…a functioning addict. I think I always feel hungry for love, attention, and approval. I miss having my friends. I hunger for more friends probably. I will be clean eight years in October. I’ve gained the respect back from my family. To this day I battle. I still get the craving but I don’t do it cuz I’m never going to let my life be like that again.