Mimmsical Creations

I've been tagged for two different memes! I'm going to do one today and one tomorrow! (I was going to do both, but this first one got LONG!)

Suzie tagged me for the 10-20-30 meme - a look at my past. Here's what I remember! (Thanks for the tag Suzie - this was fun!)

10 Years Ago (Age 23, 1997) - I was living alone in my little house in the country. I moved there at the beginning of 1996. During 1997, I was working in Windsor (about 15 miles from my house) at the local Hallmark store as the assistant manager. I bounced between working at Barnes and Noble and at Hallmark in 1996-1998. I left the Hallmark store for good in 1998 because the owner sold it to some new owners and I didn't want to transition with them. (A friend took some great photos of me, along about this time - it may have been 1998 or so, but it's close! This was one of my favorites of the batch.)

My memory is bad, but I think I also started back to school during 1997, about 4 years after graduating from high school. I took night classes at Regis University. Working full time, taking night classes - left me little time for socializing. I was pretty introverted still and I didn't have much of a social life. I spent a lot of time with Nancy and her family - my landlord/surrogate family! I learned to cook from Nancy - Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, baking - you name it! We also played a lot of Uno and Monopoly with the kids! I also had my friend, Andrea to count on - and still do!! Other friendships had fallen apart during this time too.

I was definitely single during this time. I didn't have my first "relationship" until a couple years later. I didn't meet Mike until much later! I wish I'd met him first, and been able to skip all the bad relationships I had between then and now! Although - I have no regrets. I learned a lot and didn't make the same mistake twice!

20 Years Ago (Age 14, 1987) - This was a tough time for me - as it is for many people. I was in Middle School, in Windsor, Colorado. (I still live only a few miles from where I grew up!) We had middle school rather than junior high - it was 6, 7, 8 grades. High school was then 9-12. (I think this photo is about this time - maybe 13? I'm holding my sister's cat, Jethro. Check out those glasses!)

Middle school was hard for me because I was the shy, geeky kid. I had known most of my classmates since grade school (and before) but we also had some new kids moving to town too. My best friend from grade school and I weren't really friends anymore. We were quite different now and she had some new friends that didn't like me - or so it seemed anyway! (she was a popular kid - and I never was!)

In sixth grade, I had almost died of a ruptured appendix. I missed the entire 4th quarter of that year. I managed to keep up on schoolwork, and moved on with my class, but I think being gone that long had an affect on my next year. 7th grade was definitely the hardest year. I remember it being lonely, even though I had friends. I spent a lot of time with two sisters in my grade (they were adopted - therefore the same age). They were so fun - we did a lot of dressing up and lip synching to our favorite songs.

I was in the school band and choir, both of which I loved. I played the French Horn in middle school - and would switch to the bass clarinet later in high school. I was always first chair, although Jeff, the only other French hornist would dispute that! :) Eighth grade was a bit brighter the next year. I was cast in our school musical as one of the female leads, and I even had a solo! Definitely a boost to my confidence! Thanks Mr. Madore!

30 Years Ago (age 3, 1977) - If my memory is bad for 10 or 20 years ago, it's even worse for my young childhood. I don't have good memories of when I was little. A lot of what I "remember" is stories I've been told. (The photo below is about this time - I may be a bit younger than three... I'm not positive!)

My brother Tom is the youngest next to me, and he would have been 18 at this point. Probably he was a senior in high school. I do remember (vaguely) going to his basketball games at the high school gym. I also remember the night of his graduation. He couldn't find his mortar board, and was very angry. He put his hand through the glass part of our porch screen door. I don't know if he had to have stitches, but he went to the ceremony with his hand all bandaged up.

My sister, Mary may have also been still at home. She came and went a bit when I was little. I remember one night - I had a nightmare and Mary was the one who came in when I cried. I didn't even know she was there until she showed up. She used to love the heaters in our old house. She was perpetually cold, and would curl up on the floor on or near the floor heaters.

I learned to read somewhere along in here - probably the next year. Once I learned, I've never stopped reading. We didn't have a TV and my mom read to me constantly. She read out loud to me until I got too busy to stop and listen (in high school!) We also played a lot of games together.

Well, that's what I remember.