Told in journal entries, this book is about my first three years of teaching at two different schools, my search for companionship and romance, family conflict, tragic loss, and recovery, punctuated by an adventure in Africa.

• If you are a teacher or retired teacher, especially at the high school level, I think you will identify with much of what I experienced in the classroom, especially during the early days of your career. I hope this book will bring back many fond memories for you.

• If you are the adventurous sort, you will enjoy my trek to northern Canada with a girl I met in Europe and, years later, the African safari, where I got up close and personal with an angry elephant and a pride of lions.

• If you are a woman looking to better understand men, I think you will find my observations mostly entertaining, but maybe even helpful. You will see that we do feel things deeply, even though we often don't show it openly.

• And if you are a man, I suspect you will shake your head in disbelief at my romantic ineptness, especially regarding a certain flight attendant who knocked on my apartment door late one night and wouldn't take "no" for an answer.