Physiology

Michael Foster works full time for a major tech company, and right now writing is a new hobby. Even with his busy work schedule, he finds time to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible, hiking and biking the many trails in the hills around home. He is an avid video gamer and always a people person with a wide network of friends in multiple countries. He loves to host backyard barbecues whenever possible. Both of his parents were high school teachers and, as a child, Michael's family spent long summers at their cabin in Idaho. His maternal great-grandfather built the cabin in the late 1920's and enjoyed living there during the summers with his wife, especially with all of the guests who came to visit. Aunts, uncles, and cousins would all stop by the cabin for extended stays when Michael's family was there during the summer. Everyone chipped in to do their share of maintenance on the cabin, dock repairs, oiling the exterior wall's logs, chopping wood, and anything else the place needed, which created memories, too. However, when there was free time, Michael, his brother, and two sisters would endlessly explore the vast Boise National Forest around the cabin and lake. Michael calls himself a free-range child saying that his parents seldom knew where he was as his inquisitive nature kept him out and about, always exploring. He knew where every stream was and every meadow where he might see deer. He caught every snake, frog, and salamander that crossed his path. Michael says he fell out of many a tree because he felt driven to climb everything he possibly could, just to get a better view. His adventurous spirit was not afraid to explore the murkiest corner of the lake, the icy cold streams, or the old logging roads. Michael says he never really got lost because the lake was such a huge landmark. He particularly loved running into wildlife which he frequently did on the logging roads near the cabin. Every summer, there was inevitably a visit to the emergency room during family visits to the cabin, his parents knew to expect it. With no electronics to distract them back then, he and his siblings would make up games to play in the woods, they all developed a great love of outdoors. Another thing Michael's parents instilled was a strong love of reading; he has been an avid reader all his life. Heavily involved in choir during his school years, Michael was very musical and studied classical piano for ten years. During high school is when he began writing music for himself, family and friends. Later, during his twenty's Michael's father taught him to play guitar which became a favorite campfire activity when the family was not sitting around the large dining table in the cabin, playing Crazy Eights or Tripoly. He has always cared about people and became involved in an inter-personal communications group in high school as one of the counselors. The group facilitated peer to peer counseling for kids who were fighting or being bullies. Michael has enjoyed watching his adult daughter grow into the same nature loving the adventurous person he was and draws writing inspiration from both his own experiences at the lake and watching his wife and daughter experience the woods in their own way.