30-20-10

I know lots of people have done this one, and I've been meaning to do it at some point during this NaBloPoMo thing. Since tomorrow is the last day, today seems as good a day as any.

30 years ago
I was all of 3 years old. I was already asking my brother's swim coach when I could join the team, and she'd tell me when I could swim the length of the pool she'd let me join. I worked really hard with the neighbor's daughters who were all lifeguards and was on that team the following summer.
I was following my brother everywhere he went. He was my idol, my everything. Being 4 years older I'm sure he got tired of me from time to time, but mostly he let me toddle after him. He taught me to build mud cities, bridges and tunnels for his hot wheel cars, but I remember I wasn't allowed to play with his Star Wars figures!


20 years ago
I was barely a teenager and all awkward and nerdy. I was very actively competing in Ice Skating and had just recently quit gymnastics, community theater and dance, because my mom said I had to choose, but was still allowed to swim on the community summer team.

I was in my final year of Middle School (grades 6-8). I was FINALLY 1st chair 1st flute in band, which was sooo big and I was in the District Honor Band. I adored science and hated history. I had been moved from advanced English to regular English because advanced was full and I had tested just below the cut-off, and even though I had always been in Advanced they were pulling me out. This pretty much was the turn of my reading abilities from slightly advanced to CRAP! I was never challenged in writing and reading in school after that and I lost interest.

I had a crush on Rob Sirwell but he said his parents were getting a divorce and was not in the right place for a relationship (relationship? who said anything about a relationship? I just wanted to hold hands and talk on the phone, maybe go to the mall, get some pizza!).

My best friend was a cheerleader and I REALLY REALLY wanted to be one too. I loved the dance and gymnastics elements of it, but mostly, I loved that freakin' skirt. I WANTED THAT SKIRT! I wasn't too keen on the image though. Yea, sure, they were popular which part of me wanted to be too (don't most kids at some point?), but at the same time I didn't. I went to the try out clinic for Jr. High, but never tried out. I told everyone that I didn't want to become snobby, but really.... I didn't want to be rejected. I later got that skirt in high school, but not for cheer. BTW - I still wish I had gone out for cheer.

Oh and a very outstanding thought on my mind during this time... When the hell are my boobs going to grow? Boob envy big time! Ok really, the body issues started about this time in general. I gained 15 pounds over the summer and went over 100 pounds after cutting back to just Ice Skating plus puberty was in full swing (minus the boob part DAMN IT!) and I recall being completely devastated. I HAD HIPS! No boobs AND I could no longer fit into the skinny Guess Jeans!


10 years ago
Around this time I had started down a career path I had not really planned on. I was on my 5th year of being enrolled in a Jr. College working on what I wanted to do when I grew up. I had gone from a Biology Major to a Computer Science Major back to Biology and then to Business. I was still not really working on my GE requirements to transfer and was continuing to take classes that simply interested me.

I had been working at a big company for a few years which started off as a 2 week temp assignment doing clerical work while I waited for an accounts payable position to open up at my friend's mom's office. This job was where I met some of the best friends a girl could ever ask for, and I switched over from a business direction and into high tech.

Along with my friends from this company, I was very much into country music and was off dancing 2-4 nights a week at a local country bar. I even competed a few times in couples, and I learned every line dance there was to learn back then. Yee Haw!

I moved out of my first apartment and into a rented house shared with my brother, his girlfriend and a high school friend (who was the lead singer in a bar band and had a different girl keeping me awake every weekend - good times!). The house was dubbed 'The Blue Room Yacht Club', as it had an in-law suite behind the house which was painted blue and decked out in a Nautical motif. The stereo and TV were out there, so most of the noise was out there too, which allowed the house to be relatively quiet. It was quite the party house.

Soon after I moved into the house, I adopted my two fur babies at 6 weeks old. I only had the intention to bring one home, but as I was walking out of the garage where they were kept, with one tiny grey kitten in my arms, the runt of the litter just looked so sad and helpless that I had to take him home too. They were small enough to both fit in my hands which is hard to believe now at 14 pounds each. I wouldn't name them until I got to know their personalities so we had a white board up in the house for people to leave suggestions. After each party we had quite a few to choose from. In the meantime, they were nicknamed Mousy and Ballsy, as that was their personalities. On the day of their first vet appointment I just couldn't put Ballsy on the record, so I called for a vote of the names on the board. He was a little crazy acting, so Cosmo it was (as in Kramer). Mousy stuck, even though he's far from the mousy one now.

A few weeks after the fur adoption, I began dating the guy I thought I was going to marry but a few months and a new mortgage later, I realized I couldn't stand living with him. So I suddenly found myself living on my own for the first time, with 2 adolescent cats who kept me up every night.



30-20-10 years ago I was a pretty different person from who I see in the mirror today. I'm certainly no longer drinking a lot of beer and doing Jägermeister shots in the parking lot of the country bar (I know at least one of you reading this remembers that!). I've gotten over gaining those pounds that put me over 100 on the scale, but I'm still waiting for the boobs. It is good to look back and see a few constants though, like my friends, my love of science, my cats, and I'm still working on what I want to be when I grow up. Oh and I still idolize my brother too!