A Little Story About This Blog

Before you explore this blog, I want to tell you a little of my story. I'm a first generation American. Both my parents were immigrants. My mother was a devout Catholic from Mexico and my father was a Polish Jew. I always thought that they were the original odd couple. My mother was well educated and a teacher, but she suffered from a streak of mental illness in her family. I was born when she was 44 years old as an only child. Not fit to care for me, my mother left me with my grandmother. When I was 4, she had a massive stroke. My father had left the family at this point. With no one to care for me, I learned to raise myself.

For many years we lived in East LA below the poverty line, in boarding houses, rented rooms, with relatives, and even in a small trailer once. I was the weird kid at school and the bullies descended, beating on me, taking my lunch and books. At home I experienced many traumas associated with our poverty and the effects of living with a mother who was always off in her own world. It was then I decided that when I grew up, nobody would ever take advantage of me again.

At 17, I met a young man and married for the first time. We were married for 12 years during which we had two daughters, he received his PhD and I received a Masters Degree in Public Health at UCLA.

When I was 19, I had bought a book called 'How To Make A Million Dollars in Real Estate In Your Spare Time.' A few years after mother died, I was able to sell her house for a profit. Using the book as a guide, I reinvested my profit in buying apartment units. My husband thought I was crazy. Convinced I would lose the money, he wanted no part in my real estate endeavors. But as it turned out, every property kept making a profit that I invested in a new property. When my second daughter was born, I learned that my husband had had several affairs. I was devastated and unable to leave him because at this point, I didn't have my college degree, no family to fall back on and two tiny kids. Amazingly my husband wanted to stay, so I put up with his infidelities until I received my Master's Degree and had a considerable amount in the bank from my real estate investments. I bought a home, my first car, and with a good job in health care, I told my husband it was time to leave.

I've been married two times since then and the last one was the charm. I worked as a health care administrator for 18 years and as a Certified Biofeedback Therapist for 3 years. I've been a real estate investor for 30 years which allowed me to be financially independent. I've started, bought and sold businesses, I've traveled extensively and throughout my life have re-invented myself and "rebooted my life" despite my rocky beginnings. I plan to continue on this empowering journey of self-discovery and help other women do the same.

I've never been one to subscribe to conventional wisdom when it comes to the role of women, especially women over 55. As a health care professional, I've written many white papers on women's health care, but only recently found the time to record and combine my life experiences along with stories of other wonderful women and cutting-edge science in an upcoming book titled "Rebooting Your Life -- A Women's Guide to being Vital, Alive and Sexy after 55." The content of my blog reflects the topics and themes of the book. If you like what you read, please comment on posts and follow my blog.

best,
Marie Arlene Cameron