Vicki Dean Mayhew was born in 1955, in Albuquerque, NM, and given up to adoptive parents. She grew up along the Rio Grande River Valley, singing with the birds and riding horses along the irrigation ditches of the Bosque, with her sister. She worked as a veterinary technician for 5 years. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, FL on an astronaut scholarship. When her adoptive mother was dying, she returned to New Mexico. After her death, Vicki found her biological mother and family and was blessed to meet new siblings and grandparents also, who embraced her. She married at 33 and became mother to her husband’s two young daughters, followed by two sons they had together, a few years later. She and her husband owned and operated New Mexico’s largest camera repair shop since 1987. He passed away in 2020. She is a former Sunday School teacher, Girl Scout troop leader and Cub Scout den leader. She has coached little league and served on the board, and as a scorekeeper. She has been writing all of her life starting with poems and stories as a small child, graduating to lyrics for songs and children’s stories. She still lives in her hometown. She has six grandchildren. “New Mexico has the bluest skies and prettiest sunsets you have ever seen. We have beautiful forests and deserts, and an incredibly diverse population consisting of people of many cultures. I was bullied as a child, as many of us have been. I thought it would be a good idea to write a book about bullying and reach children at a young age to teach them the consequences.” She was honored to be a member of the Salute to Albuquerque Teenagers, and an Astronaut Scholarship recipient. One of her early poems was published in Carol Burnett’s book of children’s poetry, as a child. She has had photos published in The Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico Magazine, Valencia County News Bulletin, Southwest Art and shot the cover photo for the Artists of America Appointment Book. Her hobbies include writing, photography, skiing, exercising, reading, sewing and gardening.