I am 33 and do not look like someone into snakes at all. Whenever I talk about them, they think I am lying. I've always looked like the girl next door...perhaps now the mom next door. 
I have been and never shall be a tom boy. I think snakes will become more universally accepted when people realize you don't have to look like a biker to love them. No offence to bikers! This is the "generalization" the public I am familiar with seems to think a snake owner should look like. Perhaps someday you will see Mary Poppins with a boa! Oops - sorry for the lecture....a habit from teaching...
I lived in Illinois until I was 12 years old, then moved with my parents to Alaska. Truly God's country...I could lecture about its amazing beauty, the northern lights, and much more...sigh...but I could never accurately portray the glory of Alaska through mere, mundane words.
Oh, but the stories I could tell... The moose, the bears, the unique and strange Alaskan novelty jewelry, etc...
Onward and upward..I got married practically right out of high school. No, not to a high school sweetheart, but to a young military man...Lock up your daughters!! Those boys are baaad.
We had two children. I ran a child care service while they were young, so I could be home with them. My eldest has asthma and allergies, my youngest has was diagnosed with Autism at about 2 years of age. I have stories about our experiences with her and autism...but, that would take a book to write.
We moved down to Alabama so that my husband could get to know his father's side of the family. We then enrolled in college. I managed to graduate Summa Cum Laude for my AS degree and Magna cum Laude for my BS degree. I'm not bragging here, but I am very proud of myself. I'm not one that to which things come easy - I spent many hours slaving over my books and helping my husband to pass his classes as well. Boy, do I have stories here too... I didn't get to walk either graduation (to accept my diploma publicly), I stayed home with the kids so he could go. I was ok with this. I would have passed out with embarrassment if I walked anyway. Believe me, I am shy. I couldn't even give my first speech in college with out crying all the way through it. I still made an "A" - go figure...the teacher was proud of my courage - she knew the phobia I faced.
We moved to Houston, TX several years ago in search of teaching positions. I have never been more miserable. The heat, the humidity, the roaches, the heat, the humidity, the heat...I've suffered sinus problems ever since coming here.
In any event, I started teaching at a nearby middle school and learned too quickly that I didn't much care for middle school children. No offence meant to you middle schoolers...it was just not for me. Now, I am seeking a high school position. High school is where I interned and it is an age I prefer. Of course, I prefer the country, where everybody knows everybody and here I resided in congested city hell. Sigh...someday...
I didn't get into reptiles at all until maybe 8 years ago. My eldest daughter was a tom boy, though, at 14 she is beginning to like being a girl. This craze and addiction of mine is all her fault! It started with lizards, then progressed to snakes. I began to doubt the snakes when my autistic daughter began messing with the lizards. I got paranoid and sold off the collection of boas that I had up until that point. Some real outstanding specimen were in my collection. I am forever kicking myself now for parting with them.
After a few years of dealing with a griping husband, I chose to give up my lizards and the insects they rely on. But, I couldn't give up reptiles, in the last year or so, I have been re-collecting boas in a frenzy. Constantly reshaping and remolding my collection to where it is almost complete. But, with all addictions...will I ever truly have enough? I still have no help from my "husband," who absolutely believes a good reptile is a dead one (you can see how well we get along), but I get enough joy from them to make up for it. Eventually we will go our own ways...I just hope that if I fall in love again that it will be to someone who accepts everything about me, from my autistic daughter (who may never be more than 5 years old in her head - right now she is probably 2-3 in her head), my avid book reading, my writing kicks, my wild life rescue, to my weird reptile hobby. Did I say only Prince Charming need apply?
Do you know the old saying "opposites attract"? Well, that may be so, but if there is no common ground, the marriage can be left barren (I'm not talking children...but enrichment and growth). We have been traveling along a rocky, broken road for the last several years, trying to stick it out until the kids are grown. In all honesty, we may both even fear being single again...sometimes it is difficult throwing away those old, comfortable slippers. It is easier to face the hell you know than the unknown hell.
Anyway, I guess this has gotten a bit more personal than intended and I didn't mean to lecture on so long, but that tends to happen when you get a teacher and a writer talking... it is called double jeopardy...read at your own peril...If you've gotten this far, you must be bored out of your mind...don't you have anything else to do on a Sunday night??
Did I say sneak peak??? Boy, did I title this wrong!! You all know more about me than I do!
Are you still reading?? What is wrong with you??
Take a deep breath...stand up...you can do it...I know it hurts, you've been sitting on your buttocks for so long, they are probably numb.... now, turn off this computer and go find a life.... 
)
Still here? What does it take to get you to live a little???
Hmmm....(drumming fingers on desk)...
Ok, now you've done it...you've got more determination than I. You win. One of us has to reign in this insanity... my bumm is numb, my fingers weary...the time has come to end it clearly.
I've got a date with Mr. Sandman and he doesn't like to be stood up.
Ciao, amico mio....
Adios, amigo....
Bon nuit, mon ami.....
G'night my friends.....
-----
