With or without HCV, I'm a 50-year-old, single mom with a 12-year-old daughter and 18 cats - yes, you read that right! I live in the southeastern USA, in a house with a huge deck that overlooks a lovely stand of woods and a pond full of fish and turtles and a family of Canada geese that appear to have taken up permanent residency.

Weekdays, I take care of my 92-year-old mom - for 92, she's in pretty good shape, just a little unsteady on her feet and rather forgetful, so my siblings and I don't like to leave her alone for too long at a time, and I'm glad I can be there for her, since she's always been there for me!

I spend a lot of time on the computer, creating digital art using various graphics programs and digital photos that I've taken. Last summer, I had an exhibit in "real life", and would like to do another, and I've had several images and tutorials published in an art magazine and on a DVD. Although my drawing skills haven't progressed much since kindergarten, I'm experimenting with some sketching and watercolors - I guess you're never too old to learn, LOL! I'm also active at a small and very friendly art site - I love seeing the differences and similarities in art "styles" from people of all age groups and nationalities!

I also frequent several HepC support forums and groups online, and am beginning to meet some "real life" heppers here in my area. I'm also active at my local church of choice...I don't think it matters what "religion" you are, but a belief in some sort of higher power helps a lot to sustain the faith and hope needed to survive and beat the HCV beast!