About the cover

One of Andrea Cripps` goals after getting her four kids off to college is to earn a pilot`s license. But she`s not waiting until then to enjoy small weekend adventures in the sky. Her fiancé, Jim, is a pilot, and the couple fly at least once a month to various destinations throughout the South, including recent trips to Charleston, S.C., Destin, Fla., Gulf Shores, Ala., Nashville, Tenn., and Asheville, N.C.

Home, though, is Alpharetta, Ga., a suburb north of Atlanta. She has three daughters, a son, and two granddaughters. Cripps was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nev., but moved to Georgia in 1986 with the four kids after a divorce. She became a hygienist and has been practicing for 12 years.

"I love my work and really enjoy my patients," she says. "This career has enabled me to raise my children as a single parent."

Another one of her goals after her son graduates from high school is to get married. She met Jim on a blind date four years ago, and he proposed to her while scuba diving. The couple also enjoys riding motorcycles and skiing.