The ‘90s were life changing for Vicki. She and Joan decided to form a union together on November 20, 1993. They combined households, moved into Vicki’s home with Joan’s 13-year-old daughter, Janessa, making Vicki an instant co-parent. Although she never had children of her own, Vicki had an immediate connection with Janessa and developed a special bond with her over the years teaching Janessa the importance of work, money and gratitude for all the blessings in life. Vicki also learned to scuba dive in the ‘90s, continued developing her love of photography and became serious about graduating college. She completed her degree in Business Management and Marketing in 1998. Traveling was a big part of Vicki’s life in the ‘90s. Together, she and Joan traveled often to Mexico to scuba dive. They also traveled to Canada to see friends Yves and Collette, and to the Northwest several times to visit family, camp on Lopez Island with brother Brian and Faviola, and camp on the Olympic Peninsula. In the ‘90s, Vicki also learned she loved kayaking and they took trips often with dear friends Kathy and Wanda. After graduating from college, Vicki started a safety program for fellow drivers at Safeway, which included writing and publishing a newsletter and leading her colleagues in a truck driving rodeo event. This led to her becoming a dispatcher and trucking supervisor at Safeway in Oregon in 1998. She quickly learned that supervisory work was not for her and decided to get into insurance instead. In 1999, she opened one of the first American Family Insurance agencies in Portland. She remained there until the fall of 2000 when her cancer treatments made it impossible for her to continue serving clients.