“I should have died in that war. I always used to ask, ‘Why me?’. A lot of us felt that way. But at the end of the day, why not me? I made it. I’m so sorry that my friends didn’t, but I will live through them, because I KNOW they would be doing a lot of great things in this world. So, I’m doing this for us…”

“I went ahead and took a shower. When I came out, I could hear my neighbor screaming for me to get out of the house!” Maria darted over to the window. “I looked down at the end of the golf course and all of a sudden, I see this enormous fire pouring down the hills. It looked like liquid lava. I immediately got dressed, scrambled to put on my flip flops in a total panic, grabbed my passports, couple of jewelry boxes, and got in my car. Being in a gated community, every car was parked. I panic and decided to drive straight through the golf course to get out. A couple moments later and I finally get to the intersection of Highway 29. I had to decide whether to turn north or south. All I could think about was getting down to Calistoga and calling my family and friends, so I turn south…”

“Losing my partner to a brain tumor caused by the AIDS virus was the worst experience of my life. I went to counseling sessions that were offered through the Catholic Church. I met other people who were going through the same struggles.” Doug says with a heavy heart.

“His parents did not know he was gay. Not only did I have to tell them that he was gay, I also had to tell them that he had a month to live. It was terrible. They were kind, but in complete shock. That day, I told them he had seizure and was in the hospital. He died two weeks later…

Tessa yelled out to her nanny in desperation, “Can you please come here?!” Her nanny came in quickly and as soon as she entered the door, Tessa was able to leap up from her bed. “I knew something was not right.”

She told her nanny, “We need to check my Dad!” They proceeded to make their way through the apartment, out their door, and head to the other complex where her dad was staying.

“We had a very unrestricted upbringing. As one social worker described it - a feral upbringing.”

“My parents had a more laissez-faire approach to our safety. They had a lot of trust in our own abilities to survive. Looking back, we did things that I think a lot of parents today would be horrified by. We would literally walk out the door in the morning and be gone for the whole day, climbing trees and crossing over rivers. “

“Getting a divorce and breaking up my family was the most challenging time of my life…because it was my decision.” She says.

“All I ever wanted was a normal family. Then, I had it, and it wasn’t the fairytale that I thought it would be. A lot of that fairytale was based on my parents love affair – which lasted two years! I have all these letters that they used to write to each other. That created a fantasy in my mind of what marriage and family was supposed to look like.

“I was practicing at a trampoline park one day. You see, I LOVE doing flips, gymnastics, cliff jumping, skiing, all that kind of stuff. During one of my routine flips, I could tell I was a little bit off of the middle of the trampoline. Normally when this happens, you land and roll back to the center, but this time, I ended up being off way more than I thought. When I came down to land, my foot locked in with the bar beneath and all of my weight went to one point in my body. I felt this HUGE rush, but no pain initially!” Stephen said.

“We spent the whole night watching the valleys burn, until around 5am, we received a call saying that everything at the ranch had burned down…”

“I was the problem child growing up; used to egg houses, draw crayons on the wall, break things, shave other kids’ heads, make my sister cry, and use every word Clint Eastwood would approve of. I learned at a young age that it’s pretty easy to offend people and get under their skin. In spite of all that, I was never a bully.”

“When I was 13 years old, my father lost his job. It was 1980. My dad worked for Ford in Richmond. He was a United Auto Worker and during a recession, he was laid off. We lost our house. We lost everything. From the time I was 13, until the time I was 17, we were pretty much homeless.”

“I attribute the spark of my entrepreneurial spirit to my Mom! She bought me a gift when I was in the 4th grade that used to turn frozen berries into sorbet. During the summer of my 4th grade year, I used to sell sorbet to everyone in the neighborhood and it felt AWESOME!”

“I left home when I was 15. My Dad had a drug problem and was stealing from me. He was not the man I needed in my life at the time. I was simply trying to take care of myself, not my father too. I was already working, buying my own clothes and shoes, and feeding myself most of the time. It wasn’t a bad situation or abusive, I was just ready to be an adult.” Ryan says.

“My mom was a brothel owner. She made her living through abducting and molesting. From 2 up to 14 years old, my sister and I were molested from Illinois, to Maryland, to Florida, and California – all around the US. My mom never actually sold us, but she was always being arrested. That left us in the hands of those who would do that kind of illicit stuff.” Doris says.

“When I was young, I hitchhiked cross-country with a friend of mine.” Dan says. One night, the sun was just about to set. Dan and his buddy were walking down a desolate road and they began to feel the subtlest drops of rain. “This concerned us”, as there was not a location in sight where they could take cover.

“Being on the water makes my heart sing away - even when I get on the ferry to go home. My husband saw my face once and said, ‘You are glowing right now!’