Meril Smith grew up at the end of World War II with children of migrant farm workers, children born in the Japanese internment camps, and children of day laborers and blue-collar workers. Poverty, recessions, and helping each other were all basic parts of surviving. Living through the times of the Berlin Wall, the Salk polio vaccine, economic recessions, the space race, the development of Silicon Valley, and the Vietnam War fueled Meril's passion for understanding people and events. His training, life experience, and career provides an excellent backdrop for writing Riding the Waves During A Pandemic."