From the get-go, Sondra was as alive as the flowers outside, or the fruit flies inside. Her family and teachers all nick-named her Sunny, not only because it sounded like her name, but because it matched her personality through and through. Sunny could always be counted on to bring a smile, a kind word, a joke, or a shoulder to cry on, for any who needed it. Far from being shy, she was outgoing, a little loud, and always ready for an adventure.

Like her father before her, Sondra was something of a child prodigy (or an evil mastermind as she liked to joke with her mom), skipping two grades in elementary and an additional year in high school. Languages being her forte, she was fluent in Spanish and French by the time she had left middle school, Sunny staying after school to get extra lessons much to the delight of her teachers. Being the youngest kid in high school did little to phase Sunny's outlook on the world and instead of feeling ostracized, she used it as an opportunity to make new friends and create new experiences for herself. Always musical, this was also the time in her life when she began playing the drums, singing, and even strumming a guitar (though she always felt her fingers were too short to play properly). Sunny went through a punk rock phase like all the rest of her class, and that was when she got her first tattoo, a little anarchy symbol just below her bikini line. Over the following years, she'd get more, but always keep them tiny and discreet.

Upon graduating high school (Magna Cum Laud), Sondra enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, deciding on a whim to become a teacher, after remembering how great it had felt on those rare occasions when she was asked to teach the class a particular passage in Spanish or break down an equation in Math. College broadened Sondra's horizons, and brought her more experiences than she could have ever dreamed of, including losing her virginity to her classmate. While college could throw a lot of people off course with all the partying, drinking, and debauchery, Sondra managed to juggle both sides of UT life with expertise and a smile. Her undergraduate work completed, she went on to get her Masters in Language and Literacy Studies, which she completely earlier than any of her peers. The lack of something to do gave way to a new curiosity when one of her friends became pregnant and without hesitation, Sondra signed up to take midwifery classes and get her certification through the North American Registry of Midwives. It was just another notch on her belt in terms of learning, but it would hold the most esteem of any of her schooling, since she was now able to have a direct impact on bringing life into the world.

Once school was complete, Sondra felt herself craving a quieter environment, one where she would have more control over what she taught and how many kids she taught it to. After searching and applying at numerous small schools in the state, Sondra settled on Boerne, where she'd have the opportunity to not only teach elementary school-aged children, but their middle school counterparts as well. Word quickly spread about the teacher who could deliver babies and before she knew it, Sondra had carved out a little niche for herself as the hippie-esque, rambunctious English teacher who routinely did cartwheels naked in her backyard.


extras.


loves: making paper snowflakes, baking cookies for her classes, music time, using her label maker for random notes, hanging her clothes to dry on the line (especially her lingerie), singing at the top of her lungs, rainstorms on a hot summer night, skinny dipping in the river and/or the pool

hates: the old ladies who like to gossip about her, guys who won't hold the door open, uber-feminists who put their cause before their own happiness, dirty bathrooms, the smell of nail polish remover, racism, bigotry, and hate in general

favorites:

COLOR: taffy blue
FOOD: chicken-fried chicken
ICE CREAM: phish food
SCENT: fresh lavender in the field
hobby: horseback riding
place: her backyard
season: summer
movie: 500 Days of Summer
actor: Catherine Hepburn