I may be the luckiest person ever. Really.

What else is there to say?

Probably the most relevant peice of information is that I am a single mom, living in Los Angeles. My son and I live  in the Los Feliz area, which I love because it is one of the few neighborhoods in Los Angeles where it is generally possible to walk or take public transportation to whatever we need.

I do own a car.

Professionally, I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice www.talkwithdove.com. Since 1995, have worked mostly in social services, though I do have a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management.

Originally from Oregon, I was taken by my parents to Papua New Guinea when I was fourteen. They had decided to be missionaries. Really. This proved to be a very shaping experience for me, broadening and deepening my perspective on the world and other cultures. In 2005, after a few years in private practice, I took a job training community-based counselors in post-conflict West Africa. I lived in Liberia for just over two years, working for two different international agencies and doing all kinds of crazy interesting stuff including an independent documentary project. That project has since morphed into a non-profit organization that brings together the best of psychotherapy, community psychology, and new media to work for social change, which you can check out at www.survivorstruths.org.

On May 2, 2007 the day before I left for a holiday in the US, I got ‘knocked up’ by a 24-year-old Australian mercenary who happened to not be single. The only piece of that information that I had was the Australian part. A couple weeks later, I discovered my ‘condition’ and set about re-evaulating and restructuring my life and career. My son was born February 12, 2008 (yes, folks, I was pregnant for a full 43 weeks) and is, without a doubt, one of the funniest, happiest, smartest people I have ever met. AJ did not meet his dad until he was two years old but we prayed for his dad at bedtime most nights so, when he finally showed up, my little guy took it all in stride. I have stumbled a bit more than he in that regard but, at this point, his dad and I are trying to sort out how they can know each other.

I enjoy spending time with friends, eating good food, reading, hiking and seeing the occasional movie. I still love travel, though I find it a bit intimidating with the munchkin. He has no such qualms and has proven his travel-worthiness so we will hopefully be doing more gallavanting in the near future.

One Response to “About Mama Paloma”

1. Matt says:

   17/09/2009 at 21:18

   Hi. I work for Motorola. Worse yet, I work in the consumer support organization. What happened!?

   - Matt