I took group lessons at a rink near my home. We first had to learn how to stand up on the ice wearing skates. Eventually we learned to move forward, but soon found out that it was not that easy to stop! So that was our next important lesson.

I was a tomboy who liked to play rough just like my two older brothers. That's probably why I liked the athletic part of skating - especially the jumping!

My parents never pressured me to skate. They always said I could quit if I wanted to. They only expected me to skate when they had already paid for the expensive lessons. But, otherwise they said I could do what I wanted to do.

Sometimes it was difficult to make friends and be social in school because I was always practicing while other kids were getting together and doing things. But it just made me closer to my family, and I realized that they would always be there no matter what.

And I love what I do and I love skating.

I do not have any pets. We travel too much.

People would ask me why I was doing what I was doing - but I always told them that I just loved to skate. There was no other explanation.

But it seems that the judging maybe they shouldn't at least see the practices all week long. That can taint the way they go into the judging and the outlook of what's going to happen, instead of just watching those four minutes and judging on those minutes alone.

There is no age, height, or weight requirement to skate. It is good exercise no matter what your age is. If you want to be competitive, most start young. But, I practice with many adult competitors.

Even now, my husband Jerry, our son Matthew and I live only five minutes away from my parents home, and my brothers live about ten minutes away. It's been great having such a supportive family.

One of the things I like best about the Halloween show is that I change outfits about six times in the show. It is a lot of fun to play the different characters.

Even now I can't describe why I love skating so much.

Falling down became second nature and it really didn't bother me.

I get to see the different sides of skating now which involves not only competing, but entertainment.

I like to try all kinds of styles so it always challenges me and forces me to try to look different.

I started skating when I was six years old.

I think it's a lot harder for the pros to have a long career in ice dance and in pairs. It seems the singles have a little bit of a longer career.

I was thrilled one year when I was younger when not only did my brothers get hockey sticks for Christmas - but I did too!

I won my first medal when I was nine years old. It was at the Boston Open.

I worked also, doing things such as our paper route and, later on, waitressing.