My real name is Elizabeth Joan Turner, but I rarely go by that name. I don't know the details of the story, but the main gist is that my dad wanted to give me a Southern name while my mother did not. They compromised by naming me after both my maternal and paternal grandmothers and deriving a Southern nickname from that (which I could drop, if I wanted, in the future). As a result, I didn't even know my real name was Elizabeth until I went to school. Betty Jo was, and still is, the name all my friends and relatives knew me by, and the name that was most familiar to myself. I never grew out of the the nickname, instead preferring it to my real name more out of familiarity then anything else.

I have one brother that is younger by two years. We were both born in S. Florida, but my parents decided to move to Alachua just before I started kindergarden. They bought a 23+ acre parcel of property north of the city of Alachua, out in the middle of nowhere. I loved playing out in woods, creek beds, and tall grasses in the small field. I've always had a soft spot for almost all animals (except spiders and rouches - ugh!!), and people had a tendency to drop off pets they no longer wanted out where we lived, too. I'm sure I was close to driving my parents insane with all the stray cats and dogs I happened to find. At one point, I remember we had eight cats (mostly outdoors) and two or three dogs! My parents were more then accepting of my affinity for the four-legged. One year they gave me snake for my birthday!

In school, I good grades. In high school I decided to make a commute and attend the International Baccalaureate Program at Eastside High School. I learned alot, met my best friend and matron of honor, Meredith, and had to study more then I ever had in my life. Eager to move forward, I went straight into the University of Florida the following Fall. I was already burnt out from high school, changed my major twice, and after two years of drifting, decided to take a break and get a job.

I got a job at Shands Hospital at UF working as a unit clerk on one of the med/surg floors. After a year, I started taking classes part-time at Santa Fe Community College and continued to work full-time at the hospital. I worked in a few departments in the hospital and at one of the outpatient clinics before I quit after three years. I worked for a year in a private doctor's office before I obtained my current position at Santa Fe College, Community Education department. Somewhere in there I also got my AA. I started working part-time at Publix help pay the bills, and that's when I first met Micheal. *^_^*

I still plan on finishing my schooling when I figure out what I want to be! After we get married, I'd like to have three kids, but I'd like to be better off financially, first. A house to raise a family would be nice, too, but that goes with the better finances! I've been planning on writing the great American novel, but, until that comes through, I guess I can't quit my day job!