Hi, I'm Genie Shropshire. I live in Norfolk (Ocean View, specifically) with our cats (Tobias, and Maya), our German Shepherd mutt Cash (named after the man in black) and our Cane Corso/Rottweiler Stella (named because of the “star” blaze on her chest and her being half Italian mastiff).
In 2009, I birthed an amazing son Ian Jacob. It's an adventure.
In 2007, I married Rich. In 2012, he was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of abdominal cancer - pseudomyxoma peretonei or PMP. He had two major surgeries as well as immunotherapy at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center in Nashville. He died at home on February 20, 2017 after a month of hospice. I'm a stronger, better person now than I was before cancer. Also, I would not wish any of what we went through on anyone.
In December 2022, I married Shrop and changed my last name for the third time.
I was born in Norfolk and moved to Blacksburg to go to Virginia Tech and get a degree in Communication Studies as opposed to a practical degree like Engineering (much to my father's dismay). After a few years, I moved back to the Tidewater area and now have a better job than I probably would have were I an engineer.
I work for a relatively small company (33 employees) that designs and supports software for libraries. This means I do technical things for non-technical people and talk to librarians every day without actually having to be a librarian. This is what they call "the best of all possible worlds" in professional circles.
In May of 1985, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, just before my 8th birthday. In January of 2000, I started using a Minimed insulin pump and that technology radically improved my life. In August of 2020, my amazing son was also diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In March of 2023, Ian and I both switched from Minimed 770g insulin pumps to the Omnipod 5 combined with the Dexcom G6. Going tubeless after 20+ years of a Minimed pump has been a more emotional experience than I expected (in all good ways).
I am an occasional participant in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) and some may know me as Baroness Isabel d'Avignon. We're mostly good people, so please don't make fun of our toy swords.
In November of 2021, I started taking Vyvanse for ADHD (inattentive). Shortly after that, I no longer needed to take Zoloft for the generalized anxiety disorder we all thought I had. Turns out trying to manage undiagnosed ADHD on your own causes a lot of anxiety. I’m also hyper-mobile (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), have Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, and several autism characteristics that I’m learning about every day.
I started writing online in 2001 and while I've taken a few breaks here and there, I love writing publicly.
I'm a leftie, I'm six feet tall, and I sing and hum constantly.