adora had a relatively loving childhood, raised by progressive and very liberal parents who always taught her that she could achieve anything as long as she went through life with a smattering of plucky determination and a good heart. These were things she would never forget, words she held near and dear throughout the years. They raised her to be vivacious and fun, and as she would often describe, “young of heart, old of soul.” both of her parents were teachers and high school sweethearts, which of course gave adora a sense of grandeur when it came to love and romance all the way through her earliest years. She was lucky enough to not have to go to the same school as they worked at, otherwise they would have pulled her from the wreckage that was her formative years and had her homeschooled (which she actually wished for during her final years in school.)

Her parents brought her up with great ideals, allowing her to accept herself and everyone around her, to be loving and kind and always have fun (if the situation was appropriate.) however, this was only a novel concept, as most children her age weren’t as accepting and always found her outgoing attitude to be too much. In fact, most people for the majority of her life found adora to be too much in every aspect. She was too loud, too friendly (how was that even possible?!), too excitable, too tall, too big, took up too much room in their lives. This made it surprisingly hard to make friends once she got to high school, but even as she looks back on it now, there were plenty of fond memories that outweighed all the negative ones. She was the type of kid who made her own way without other people, and while she was generally very outgoing and effervescent, she would still have trouble until she learned to tone herself down just to make it out of the dumpster that was her teenage years.

Still, she came into herself and grew up to be the person she wanted to be. College gave her an escape from the close mindedness and harshness of teenagers, which allowed her to explore herself and her peers more fully. She fit in better with a slightly older group, those who liked her old soul and her love of all 80’s and 90’s nostalgia, horror movies and dungeons and dragons. She was no longer teased for being taller than everyone or having broad shoulders, she was admired for being so confident and comfortable being exactly who she was and nothing less. adora was the type of person who joined every possible club, tutored, volunteered and filled her time with extracurriculars to give herself a sense of belonging and meaning. This allowed her to find all sorts of new things she didn’t even know she would like had she never gotten out from the bubble of high school drama.

Halfway through her second year at college, she switched her major from computer science to pre-vet, having finally made the decision to follow her lifelong dream of becoming a veterinarian. It was a big change for her, one that knocked her down a few pegs more than once, but as she always had, adora persevered and was able to graduate by the skin of her teeth. From then on out, she worked at a local emergency small vet clinic while she took a break before committing to the rest of her schooling.

She was pretty much fresh out of college when she took a job as a keeper at the san francisco zoo, which pulled her even further out of her comfort zone. Having lived in LA her entire life, adora had only ever visited other places on the west coast (and never any further east than wyoming, which is a story unto itself.) the change was enormous for her and even though it’s been almost a year, she’s still settling in and trying to find her footing. Other than people that work at the zoo and her cousin, she knows very few people. The upside is that she loves san francisco!