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My Birth
Born in Berkeley, California at 5:45 PM, I came into the world. My parents are Catherine Munsch and Stephan Howard, and together they have one other son, Samuel, who was born nearly 2 years prior. -
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My Life
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Infancy: Trust vs. Mistrust
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Early Childhood- Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
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Preschool: Initiative vs. Guilt
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Moved to Houston
I moved from Berkeley, California to Houston, Texas in 2002. I started at Lakewood Montessori, but the following year, I went to Abercrombie Academy. Moving to Houston caused my whole life to change. Also, my father, after moving here, didn't have to leave as often for work. -
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School Age: Industry vs. Inferiority
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Started at Northland Christian School
I started at a new school in 5th grade, a christian school, even though my parents nor I were religious. Going to this school changed me in that I learned different viewpoints of those around me. -
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Adolecence: Identity vs. Role Confusion
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Aunt's Death
On this day, my aunt committed suicide. This event changed everything about me from the way I treated others to the way I lived life. My family as a whole changed. My brother and I grew close while my father grew apart from us. -
Maeve Giardina
On a Friday night, Maeve, a 14 year old girl on my swim and waterpolo team, passed away. Right after I came to terms with my aunt's passing, this event wrecked me. I learned how precious life truly is and how everyone should cherish every second of it. -
Graduated High School
Graduated Cypress Creek High School. This is the starting point of my life as an idependent young adult. Less than 3 months later, I enrolled at University of California at San Diego. -
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Young Adulthood: Intimacy vs. Isolation
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Graduated from UCSD
Graduated with a degree in Biomedical Engineering, with a focus in Tissue Engineering. This led me to a job researching diseases and how to impliment and create new technologies to counteract these diseases. -
Research
I spent 4 years researching tissue engineering in children, specifically the white blood cells. This research led me to various conclusions regarding the cells, and heightened my love for my job. -
Wedding
I met the man of my dreams while working with Vala Sciences. I fell in love and we adopted many puppies and spent our time taking them to the dog park and cooking. -
Children
I gave birth to twin boys, Seth and Jake, and my husband took time off of my research in effort to raise the children. I strived harder in my work to provide them with everything they could ever ask for. -
Grant
I was awarded with a grant to fund my research and implimentation of technologies to create a functioning synthetic hormone that strengthens the immune system. I spend more time at work than I would like, but my sense of self spans from just my family to my work too. -
First Triathalon
My husband and I compete in our first triathalon. This leads us to set goals which bring us to the gym more often and cause us to bond more -
Sundays at the Beach
We begin the tradition of taking our children to the beach every other sunday at Coronado Beach and Ocean Beach Dog Beach. We bring our two labs that love playing catch and wading in the surf. This leads to scheduled family time and a destressed environment, something I need while working long hours at Vala Sciences. -
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Middle Adulthood: Generativity vs. Stagnation
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Mom's Death
My mother passed away this day. I decided to take time off work and spend it with the kids while my husband went back to working. I had difficulty opening up to my husband so we started attending therapy sessions to help restore that. -
20 Year Anniversary
I have now spent nearly half of my life with my husband, and I wouldn't want to live it any differently. Because of this man, I have two children that I love, I have sanity, and I have love. -
Seth and Jake Graduate High School
This is a big day for the kids, and it is marked with many tears from my part, and some watery eyes from their father. Seth is off to University of Illinois and Jake to University of California at Santa Barbara. Now that they have left the house, I resume working and researching. -
Grandchild!
Jake and his lovely wife had a baby girl, Jessica. I feel like I have aged 10 years in the past nine months with the coming of this baby. I miss having kids in the home, the house feels rather empty and sad without children. -
Move to San Francisco
Husband is offered a job at the University of California at San Francisco in the Biomedical department, which he readily takes, so the family moves to San Francisco. I had to quit my job, which caused some tension in our relationship. -
Couple's Therapy
My husband and I begin taking couple's therapy sessions, for our relationship is strained at best. He has been sleeping in the guest bed, I only speak to him briefly every day, and when we do speak, it is fighting. I want our marraige to work, I love him dearly, but I am secretly angry that he took the job here. -
Husband Retires
My husband chose to retire once he made it into his 60's because I have been without a job for a few years and he wanted to spend more time with me. We are gradually building our relationship back to the stage of showing love and affection again. -
Cross Country Road Trip
Now that my husband I no longer fight all of the time, we decided to take the trip of our lifetime. Explore America by driving in a giant loop around the whole country, with our dogs of course. Being in close quarters with eachother is initially a struggle, but we grow to cherish the fact that we can spend so much time together. -
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Maturity: Ego Integrity vs. Despair
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Cancer.
The very body that I researched for the majority of my life, the body that I studied to heal for years, is failing me. I have developed liver cancer, that is slowly spreading. How do I go on knowing that it is fatal? -
Legacy
I have decided instead of letting my cancer not only eat away at my cells, but also my mind and heart, I will leave a standing legacy for those after me. I have begun speaking at events around the state of California for college students on the benefits of biomedical engineering, for this field of study could cure patients like me. I have begun to enjoy life more, the sun, the stars, and everything in between. -
Death.
I died in my sleep in my hospital bed. My body finally failed me after years of astonishing amounts of effort to fight the cancer. I have lived a long full life and have ended it happy.
