Who is Tia?

I am a diverse creature......
Explaining who I am is not possible...
I can tell you pieces of information,
but in no way are they the complete me.....

I was born in  Santa Clara, California as Tina Ellis on 4-20-66.
That makes me an Aries-Sun as well as an Aries-Moon,
although the 20th is on the cusp,
so I have Taurus energy balancing me out.

 I lived in San Jose, California with my parents until the age of six.
We then moved down to Vista in Southern California,
which is were I lived up until 1998 at which point I moved to Oregon. 
I have 1 stepsister and 2 stepbrothers who are much older than I am. 
This gave me the best of both worlds as I grew up;
I had siblings but basically grew up as an only child

I believe I used that to my advantage :)

I have always had a passion for art. 
I have found it often emerges in my life in music and movement.
 I spent my high school years dancing on the Vista High Flag team. 
Many memories and a graduation from HS led me to became the choreographer
and coach of El Camino H.S  Flag team   

I have a very eclectic taste in each form of the arts,
and I luckily have found a person to share my love of art with; my Soulmate David.

Early one I created my first physical work of art

Trace White born 10-4-85

In 1989 I moved to Corvallis, Oregon. 
Why would I do that?
People who know Corvallis would ask that ......
My parents had moved there,
I was craving change in my life,
I felt drawn....
basically all of the above....

While in Corvallis I finished my college degree in Behavioral sciences.
I luckily received a job straight out of college as a Residential Treatment Specialist,
which is a fancy term for counselor for Juvenile delinquents. 
I worked primarily with boys ages 12-18 and found them to be an incredible learning experience for me.

I then created my second piece of physical art

Micaela White born 10-12-90

4 years later I decided that I needed another change.
I went back to school to become a Registered Nurse.
  I had an ultimate goal to be a Midwife. 
A dream I had held close since I was a teenager.

I worked in Nursing for a short period of time,
but I worked with a diverse group of medical patients.
 I learned tremendous thins from each experience.
  Nursing school taught me what a nurse is suppose to be. 
My work experiences taught me how to actually be a nurse.

I have been lucky to work in several areas of nursing that I truly love:
(Oncology) Cancer patients,
OB/GYN,
and  Pediatrics.  
Many people I encounter wonder how I could work with the patients that I did, especially the Cancer patients. 
They think it must have been very depressing.  
I will admit that physically and emotionally it was challenging,
but I also found each patient enlightening and inspiring. 
My  patients usually  reached a state of peace  for what was to come.
 I truly believe that even at death, there is not an ending. 
Each persons soul has a journey they continue upon.

Pediatrics, now that was a hurdle for me.....
It was an area that I avoided  when I was in Nursing school.  
After graduating I began to work with Pediatrics kind of by default. 
New nurses on the block gets whatever is assigned to them....  :)

I began to learn that I had been avoiding them,
for fear of getting to close and relating to them to much.
   I learned that what I had been avoiding,
 was exactly what needs to exist when caring for them. 
In relating to them and their parents,
you form a bond that allows wonderful things to happen.  
I feel that those children I cared for taught me the power of a moment.
Taking just the smallest moment to listen, to smile, to just be there.
 It all makes a tremendous difference. 
They are such givers,
and in turn I love to give a piece of myself to them when attempting to make them healthy again,
or experience what time they have left. 
To see their smiles is a reward,
and it is one I am glad I have not missed.

1998 brought many changes to my life. 
I stepped forward in full command of who I am and where I need to go in my life. 
I reclaimed myself. 
Today as I revise this page it is 2004....
I am still moving ahead and continually changing,
but I am so far from the person who in 1999 began to reassert herself and claim who she was.....
So in 1998, I  moved to Portland, Oregon after having an on-line romance that led me to my Soulmate, David. 

I won't go into detail about our  romance as there is another section on this site devoted to that.

I chose to leave Nursing in 1999. 
Not because of my patients or lack of desire to be a healer.
 Instead the reasoning was based more on my inability to work within the system of healthcare. 
There is a current in the system that is the antithesis of caring, of respect of healing......
It is big business. 
I chose to not be involved in that.  
In other respects I felt my path was elsewhere....
Of course what to do now......

What I did.... was work with David in his business.  I became a Gutter contractor.....:)
It took me awhile before I was successfully climbing that ladder and perching on rooftops.
 I got there though. 
I learned so much from that experience. 
I experienced the elements in their rawness. 
I really saw nature, each day, smelling, breathing, seeing and feeling it around me......
It was the right next step for me....

In 2000 my third piece of physical art was created

Torrin Rich born 10-31-00

After his birth in 2000, I continued to work with David,
doing attached parenting. 
It was incredible to spend so much time with our son together.
To each moment of those crucial moments in his life. 
I also began to feel the need to be an active healer once again. 
I had been studying and moving forward in my Reiki healing and began to practice it as a business......
This has led me so very far on my healing path...
I now work as a Tantric and Reiki healer.....
I am loving every step, no matter how difficult it may be at times.