"sing your own song" Olivia Kennell began life on April 23, 1939, weighing in prematurely at a mere two and one half pounds. Her spirit to survive against the odds set the tone for her entire life. Most people she knew stayed in Leicester. Olivia was determined to sing her own song that would take her to Israel, where she worked as a volunteer on a communal farm, with warplanes flying overhead. She also worked in France and Switzerland. In Geneva, she studied transcendental meditation with the Maharishi. Afterwards, she came to the United States. Olivia had little money, but was endowed with a great deal of resourcefulness. Although trained as a residential caseworker in England, she chose to give up a comfortable career for new adventures abroad. Her relationships with men included her share of love and heartbreak, but she nonetheless found new songs to sing. These memoirs are her words that she shared with me, her husband. In this memoir, we see what it is like to be a risk taker, living on the edge and hoping to land on one's feet. Along the way, Olivia experienced Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, picked burgundy grapes in France, spent a summer in St. Tropez, and a host of other adventures. She traveled across the United States in the Greyhound bus. She began a new life in Sacramento California, doing whatever jobs she could find without having the necessary work papers. Fortunately, she found many kind people to share her life with. There was much joy, along with the various struggles. One special treat was her parents coming from England for a visit. Just before her fortieth birthday, Olivia and I met for the first time. We would spend the next thirty -four years together, living in many places, including a fishing village on the north coast of Mallorca, Spain. Travels took them to Hawaii, Micronesia, Morocco and many other places. Olivia brought a sense of dignity to everything she did. When we lived in Hawaii, she directed a highly successful program for teen gang members that enabled them to complete their education and obtain their first job. The mayor of Honolulu attended the graduation. A major challenge that she had to deal with was Diabetes I, which she contracted at the age of twenty-four. She refused to let the disease control her life, despite the warnings of doctors that she would have to limit herself in a variety of ways. In 2004, the doctors told her that she would have to give up working and retire. She was 65. I went to a café and picked up a book on retiring to Costa Rica in Central America. After reading it while sipping a cappuccino I returned home. Olivia and I had a cup of tea and talked for about 20 minutes, at which point Olivia said "it sounds good let's do it." We were off to Costa Rica, where we lived until the time of her passing. She was always ready to sing a new song, but it was always her song. On November 7, 2013, the world lost a truly special person. Her spirit lives on in the hearts of those who knew and loved her. This is the story of "Lady O". It is also a story of the triumph of the human spirit. William Honer