Born in the county hospital in French Camp, California, Valerie 's childhood started out normally. Her father was becoming a CPA, her mother, a stay-at-home Mom. But within a few short years, the family, her mother 7-months pregnant, boarded a plane to Munich, Germany. They embarked on what was to become a life of travel, eventually living in Germany, Japan, Italy, and both coasts of America. It was the perfect childhood for an imaginative, curious, little girl. Always preferring to work outside with her dad, rather than do housework indoors with her mother and sister on a sunny, Saturday afte...