I was born in Richmond, Va on June 25, 1976. If you have read about astrology and have read about what a person born under the sign of cancer, that is me. I fit it to perfection, even being an early cancer. I was born to Karen Ann Smith and Larry Long. My parents were not married and my father was in the Air Force, things did not happen the way they should and my mom and dad never got married. The first time I talked to my dad I was 14 and the first time I met him in person I was 19. My mom was introduced to the, Euel Edgar Nolen (Eddie) they got married and he adopted me, by legal standards he is my dad. My parents went on to have my two sisters, Christie Lynn and Elizabeth Jean. We are all 2 yeara apart. We are pretty close. My dad got MS and he changed and when I was 9 my parents divorced. I lived with my dad for 2 years in Ga, before finally coming home to Va to be with my mom when I was 12. My mom had met and fell in love with William Abrahamian (Bill) and they got married when I was 13. Bill in all the important ways is my dad. Bill had 2 daughters of his own, the oldest and the youngest and my mom had use three in between. They raised us to believe in ourselves and to follow what dreams we may have. They have always been proud of us no matter what. We didn't have alot growing up but we had Love and that is what was important.

     In 1995 I met and fell madly in love with Jeffrey Stuart McGuinn (Jeff). It was truely love at first sight. Things progressed very quickly between us, we met at the end of Feb, started dating the beginning of April, were engaged mid-May, we moved in together in October and married on January 26, 1996. We knew it was right even though others were not so sure. We have delt with a lot and even seperated for 4 months in 2001. We eventually began talking and decided we were going to try to make our marriage work. We loved each other and we knew that sometimes Love isn't enough, however we did not want to just give up without trying like so many others do. So we started "dating". We had always wanted a child but could never had one due to some issues that I had, so when we decided that we were going to stay together and we were laying out our plan we had decided to get some things straightened out and then we would adopt. Then to our surprise on Jan 18, 2002 we got the news that we were expecting, we were excited to say the least. So we began preparing to have a baby in Sept. I had a very eventful prgnancy and at 24 weeks our very impatient daughter decided it was time to make an appearance into this world on June 2, 2002. It was a very difficult time, however Jeff and I made the best of it and we learned alot about not only ourselves but our relationship. The most improtant thing is that Communication is the key to a successful marriage. Our daughter spent one week shy of 6 months in the hospital (176 days), she came home on Nov 25, 2002. She is our miracle.

    Now Jeff and I have been married for ten years and our lives have changed so much. We love each other and we make it a point to lye in bed at night before going to sleep and just talk, even if it is something stupid. But we take those few mins relaxing and communicating and it works. My love for him grows stronger and deeper everyday and I can not imagine living in this workd without him or my daughter. She is the light of my life and I could not imagine life without her. I take so much pride in my family.