10 years ago
August of 1998—I graduated from high school in the spring and worked during the summer, probably stripping beds at the resort for the Siepierski’s, babysitting, helping tend ginseng beds, or working at Video Hut—some combination of those options. Around this time of the year, my family packed up all my stuff and drove me to St. Paul, MN, to install me in the freshmen first-year class at the College of St. Catherine. We weren’t called freshmen because it implied that women couldn’t do it, so we were called first-years. It was an all-girl college. I enjoyed it and I learned a whole lot. Dad built me a loft for my bed, that I painted periwinkle. The first week of college, that lofted bed became my safe nest, where I’d go when things were overwhelming. It was the start of a wonderful, fascinating, stretching year.
5 years ago
August of 2003—I graduated from Crown College that May and immediately took a job at Toccoa Falls College. That summer, I traveled with the chamber choir to Europe to sing in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and a few other countries in that area. I met up with my friend Gillian at the Munich airport after the tour and we caught a train to Italy. We spent four days wandering around without a clue before she ran out of funds and we had to return home, much earlier than our 2-week estimate. When I landed at the Minneapolis airport, I called my older brother and asked him to come pick me up. I spent the rest of my time off from work at my sister’s townhouse in Watertown, MN, helping her prepare for her wedding. I was the maid of honor at her wedding—dropped the groom’s ring in the lobby—and returned to Georgia. That summer, I was also the maid of honor at Gillian’s wedding (she didn’t let me hold the ring) and a bridesmaid at my brother’s wedding in the fall. I settled into my first full-time office job at TFC and learned how college politics actually work and how to keep house for myself and my brother for the first time, in a home that my parents purchased for us while I was out of the country.
5 months ago
March 27th—Two days before my wedding. Most of our guests were arriving in town for the wedding. I spent half the day at work, and the rest of the day with my sister and friend Sara finalizing my jewelry and other crazy things. That evening I went on a ghost tour with my in-laws, who went to a bar afterwards and tried to get me drunk. I spent the night at Sara’s hotel room because she was the largest calming element of the weekend. I was anxious and nervous and going absolutely insane over planning the wedding and I just wanted it to be done and over and on my way to my honeymoon. Thankfully it went off without a noticeable catch and we’ve enjoyed a fantastic five months since then.
5 things on my to-do list tomorrow
- Make a plan for cleaning the house this weekend
- Pay the bills
- Update the certification package for an aircraft
- Fold the laundry
- Do the Quick and Easy Kaizen event thing
5 things people don’t know about me
- When my feet get cold, the fourth toe on my left foot will go white and numb. If I don’t put on socks or slippers, other toes will follow suit.
- Before I got glasses as a little girl, I had no idea that there was anything wrong with my eyes. At church, the words for the songs were projected onto the front wall of the building, and I thought no one else could read them either. I had it all memorized and thought that everyone else was doing the same thing.
- I vividly remember the first time Mom and Dad let me stay home by myself. I stood at the window near the stairs in the family room upstairs and watched them leave. I felt so big.
- When I go rollerblading, a part of me is always afraid that I’m going to lose my balance, fall backwards, and impale myself on something. I love to rollerblade and I have no idea where this fear came from.
- I will not apologize for being close-mouthed about information on this site. I believe that it’s my right as the writer to share or not share whatever I feel is appropriate. I think it’s fairly obvious already that I’m willing to write about almost everything under the sun. That’s not to say that I’m not willing to talk with people about things that I don’t write about. But if I don’t write about something, it’s something I don’t feel like sharing with the whole internet, and I feel no obligation to apologize for my feelings on that. And I don’t understand why other people feel like they should.
5 bad habits
- I eat when I’m bored.
- I eat when I’m upset.
- I don’t keep in contact with people.
- I forget about the laundry in the dryer.
- I’m lazy.
5 places I have lived
- Bluffton, SC (the last several weeks)
- Savannah, GA (2006-2008)
- Toccoa, GA (2003-2006)
- St. Bonifacius, MN (2000-2003)
- St. Paul, MN (1998-2000)
Tag 5 people
You, you, you, you, and you.