So, I've decided to make a Birthday post! So, here I go! I'm going to post 35 things about me, and maybe even per year. We'll see how this goes!
1. I was born to older parents, my mom being 45 years old when she had me and my dad 49.
2. I have this weird memory of my sister Hope feeding me baby food that was green in a high chair. I can't tell if this is a real memory, pseudo memory, or a fake one that my mind conjured up!
3. I have other weird memories too. Like when my sister in law Karen came to visit with my brother and kids. She had a line going of kids taking medicine, antibiotics or something. I got in line, and she gave me some too!
4. I started Kindergarten at 4, because there weren't rules back then that students couldn't start until 5. I remember my school and classroom. I also remember my baby sitter! She was awful! (I have lots of crazy baby sitter stories!) One time, at pick up time, I refused to get in the baby sitter's care! I kept saying, "My sister is coming to get me! I'm not going with you!" And I didn't. It turned out that Hope was coming to get me, she just had forgot or something.
I think I had my first surgery at 4. It was an exploratory surgery, because I was sick and they couldn't figure out why. (It was probably all kidney related, but they didn't figure that out.) I remember Hope was baby sitting me and I spilled a glass of ice on the floor. (I remember that part.) She told me to pick it up, and I did. She said, she knew I was really sick because I obeyed her. (I don't remember that part.) She called our parents and they took me to the hospital. When they did the surgery, they took out a swollen lymph node and my appendix.
The biggest memory I have of being in the hospital is pulling out the tube they had stuck in my nose, and the nurse putting it back in... while I was awake.
5. At 5, I started first grade at Klondike Elementary school, the same place I was in Kindergarten. I didn't really like my teacher, nor did I feel like I got enough attention from her! That became obvious when she told my parents to hold me back in first grade again. She told them, I had a "Short Attention Span." OK, or maybe she was just an awful teacher and really boring! Anyway, they agreed and kept me in the same grade another year. Back then, they didn't just give you drugs and move you along, nor were they interested in finding a real treatment for that sort of thing.
6. At 6, I started the first grade for a second time at Klondike Elementary School. I was no longer the youngest in the classroom. I had Mrs. Hood. I did "accelerated reading" because of being held back a grade but being ahead of all of the other students. One thing I do remember is, sitting on the floor and listening the the space shuttle lift off on the radio. We didn't really know what was going on, but Mrs. Hood shut it off and started crying. I didn't really find out what was going on until I went home and watched the news with my parents. This is when the
Challenger Crashed. This actually happened when I was already 7, but it was within the same school year.
7. At 7, the memories I have start becoming more solidified and real. I know that I had Mrs. Merkel for second grade. In that class room, we were taught a special math class by Purdue students. They were using us as guinea pigs for a project they were doing. It had something to do with the retention of what was being taught. I had to go back years later to Purdue, and they gave me a math test to see what I had remembered. I loved Mrs. Merkel very much, even when she would get mad at me for my obsession with making random origami objects. I would keep them in my "mail box" or little cubby that was for homework, and she hated that.
She had a microphone stand in her class room. I would spend all of my indoor recess time making up songs and singing them into that fake microphone. (There wasn't one in the stand!) More than once, a teacher would come over from the neighboring classroom during recess and tell me I was too loud!
8. At 8, the only memory I have at the moment is my baptism and Amber's baptism. I remember sister Dibb working really had to make me my own baptism dress, and then, I had to share it with all of my nieces. I still have that dress in my closet.
9. At age 9, while in third grade, I remember not getting
along with my teacher at all. My teacher was Mrs. Robertson. This is the first year I remember having homework I was supposed to do. My mom and I also took a cross country train trip. We went from Lafayette, IN to Seattle, WA to see my brother, back across the Midwest to the east coast, and down to Tampa, FL to see my Grandpa. My mother sent a note to my teacher to get all of my homework for the two weeks of school I would miss. My mom didn't have me do any of the homework on the trip. We did it when we got back. I also remember going to the snack car and eating these little pizzas that the sold. For other meals, she had taken along these little cans of tuna. I remember sitting with her and eating those. We didn't eat in the dining car often, because that was expensive. But we did a few times. We also met a women named Marcy, that I remember hung out with for the east coast leg of our trip. When we got back, my mom and I did a few power sessions to get through the homework. I remember get one or two pages of the back with, "100% to whoever did this!" from the teacher.
10. At 10, I was mostly in 4th grade at Klondike Elementary School. When I found out I had Mrs. Hirsch for a teacher, a lot of my friends told me she was mean! She really was just old. She was German and had an accent. For some reason, I think she was a Holocaust survivor. We had an assembly where they honored her, and I think that was the reason. I remember an assembly with a guy who brought a
Moog Synthesizer. The song that was his "selling point" for his demonstration was "Jump" from Van Halen. I don't think I was that impressed with it at the time.
We had really old reading books. One time in our reading group, the book had the word "queer" in it, as in, "That was a little queer!" and Mrs. Hirsch got embarrassed, and said, "They aren't supposed to put that in books anymore!" We had no idea what she was talking about, or why we weren't supposed to use that word anymore.
11. At 11, we moved to the opposite side of town. My parents had to file bankruptcy, and we lost the trailer we were living in. Most of this probably happened when I was ten, but it didn't affect me until we had to move and I had to change schools. I started my 5th grade year at Durgan Elementary School. This is the year I met Mr. Dunn, the music teacher. He still comes in the store and talks to me to this day! As I student, I had a really hard time functioning. Moving to a new school and not having any friends it rough on a 11 year old. This is probably the first time I suffered from depression.
At 11 years old is when they (the doctors) first figured out that my
kidneys weren't functioning properly.
That was my first experience with having a voiding cystogram X-ray. I had my first kidney related surgery.
12. At 12, I started my school year at Tecumseh Middle School. I remember having a big birthday party at the self storage place we lived at because my dad was the manager. There was a girl named Kendra that came to my party, and she had a cold. When she left, there was a circle of used tissues around her spot. A. Why would her mother think it's ok to bring her to a party that sick? and B. Why wouldn't she clean up after herself?! My mother was pretty grossed out! She told me to never do anything like that at someone else's house!
When my dad last that job after a couple months, we moved to an apartment on another side of town, and I started going to
Southwestern Middle School. Again, I didn't know any other students, and it started another year of feeling depressed.
When I was 12, my family took a cross country trek by car to Utah, and then, up to Washington, back to Utah, and then, down across the southern states. It was probably around a three week trip. My friend Jennifer went with us. I think my parents were worried about me getting bored or something. Not that I didn't enjoy her company, but it was all our parents' idea. One memory of this trip was, I was sick. A lot. I had migraines for a good portion of the trip. Part of was elevation sickness, and part of it was, my brother's family drank milk at every meal. We didn't realize how lactose intolerant I really was.
13. At 13, my parents decided to rent a house, we moved, and I changed back to the school I started the 6th grade in. They bought me a violin. I started taking private lessons for the instrument. I started making some friends at the school. I remember having a big 13th Birthday party.
Also, at 13, the re-did the ureter re-implantation surgery that didn't work the first time.
14. At 14, I was still at the same middle school, Tecumseh. I was getting more involved in music activities, with the orchestra and choir. I decided out of nowhere to become a wrestling manager for the middle school team. By the end of the school year, I learned that sometimes your middle school friends aren't your friends for ever. On the last day of the school year, a girl whom I had been friends with since 5th grade started saying really mean things to me. That was the end of that relationship. Since she was the "leader" of the group, I lost a lot of friends with the parting of that friendship. That's ok though, because I moved on to High School then! During that Summer, I auditioned for the Dance Team and made it! I was originally slated as an alternate, but that didn't matter to me!
15. At 15, I spent my Freshman year of high school meeting new people and making new friends. I danced, I sang, I played in the orchestra. I joined Jefferson Players, the theater group, and did plays.
16. At 16, I got my first job at
Arni's restaurant. It's still one of my favorite places to this day!
17. At 17, I was trying to make it through high school. It got a little rough there for a while. This would be the first time I would be told that a kidney transplant was in my future from the doctor at Riley Hospital.
18. At 18, I finished high school alive! That was almost a miracle in itself! I applied for college. One college. Indiana State University. I suppose that's because Mr. Prill, my high school drama teacher went there. He had a great love for the school, so, I decided I would like it too! It also had a music department, which I actually got my acceptance letter for that before I got my acceptance letter to the school.
19. At 19, I was a freshman in college. I was a horrible student. My health was getting worse. My kidney doctor told me to take classes like Under Water Basket Weaving, because there were too many toxins clouding my brown to do well in school. If he only knew how being a freshman music student worked. I was put on academic probation after my first semester. Second semester, with a lot of help from friends, I my GPA was over a 3, getting me off of academic probation.
20. At 20, I bought a green pair of Doc Martin Combat boots. I bought them for half the price that they normally are. I still wear these boots in the Winter! If only shoes were made like this now! I joined Sigma Alpha Iota that Fall. I was on Dialysis during the Summer I was 20.
21. At 21, on November 4th, 1999, I received the call for my kidney transplant. The transplant happened the next day. The new Millennium happened this year! I survived Y2K!
22. At 22, I moved in with my friend Allison. She got pregnant with triplets and moved out. Nikki moved into her place in the apartment. I lived on Ohio St. in Terre Haute, IN. The street was lined with the most beautiful trees that had gorgeous blossoms on them in the Spring.
23. At. 23, I was still in college. I was trying to finish up my Music Business Degree.
24. At 24, I finally started my internship at
J.W. Pepper. I moved to a different state to do this. I was around 45 minutes away from Chicago, and rarely ever went there!
25. At a quarter of a century, I was still living in Chicago. I was hanging out with Kelly, Steve, and Brooke. They were showing me around!
26. At 26, a big decision came my way. I decided to transfer with my job to Indianapolis. I moved back to Indiana, but to the big city of Indianapolis. I was an hour from my parents and an hour and a half away from my sister.
27. 27 must not be a real memorable year for me, because nothing is jumping out at me. But a quick fact: I have two cats. I've had a cat or cats for most of my life. I'm definitely a cat person and not huge on dogs.
28. Nothing at 28 is coming to me either. I still worked at J.W. Pepper. I still lived in the same apartment. I started hanging out with Jenn and sometimes her friend Bryan, who are still two of my favorite people.
29. At 29, I was still doing all of the same stuff. Throw a lot of karaoke in there!
30. At 30, I received my Jade Moon dishes from my sister and my parents as my "Adult" gift for my Birthday. I still love them! Too bad Target discontinued the style.
31. At 31, Bryan and I went out to karaoke all the time! We had a place we liked to go and a K.J. that was our favorite. I met Ian. I started the
Indy Adult Show Choir. It was a pretty eventful year!
32. At 32, the IndyAdult Show Choir had our first show, which was a Christmas show.
33. At 33, I continued to direct the Indy Adult Show Choir.
34. At 34, Ian and I got engaged! Most of my time being 34 has been consumed with wedding planning!
35. And now, I'm 35! I can't wait to see what all is in store for me this year, with our wedding and so much else going on!
This blog has turned into quite the epic blog! I hope you enjoyed it if you got all the way to the end!
