Many of us know from experience that growing up doesn't come without sometimes awkward, sometimes funny and sometimes even heartbreaking moments. For some of us, it happens all at once. For others, it's a series of subtler moments. And it often comes at the unlikeliest of times. That was the case for Susan Lacke, who formed an unlikely friendship with a former boss at Glendale Community College. As she describes it, she was an "overweight, pack-a-day smoker" while he was a 13-time Ironman triathlete. She was 23; he was 42. He was a Mexican immigrant who achieved the American dream — she was a Midwesterner who might have taken that dream for granted.
