Comments:
***Added two new photos to demonstrate my awesome parenting skills!
Okay already! I was told to post a photo and I am getting sh#@ for posting a bathing suit photo. I only wanted to show the before and after. If you want to check out the before look at Molly's profile. Gastric bypass is a miracle! And NO the man next to me is not my father! I still find my husband sexy and I am a good cook (sometimes).
What has happened in the last 20 years? I can honestly say, in a single breath, everything and nothing at all.
I graduate from MSU in '93 and was being stalked by a crazy boyfriend so I hooked up with this hippie type, tree hugging guy and and basically lived out of the back of a pick-up truck for a summer. I waited tables in Glacier Park, hiked and partied. Good Times! When fall drew near we went to Colorado and lived in a commune for a few months. Then we headed to Death Valley, CA. I was hired as a Wine Steward in a fancy resort. I had no knowledge of fine wine but the interview consisted of dining with with an older Italian gentlemen and drinking about seven bottles of wine. I got the position and a two-day hangover! When the season grew to a close (no one wants to hang in Death Valley in the summer) I headed to AZ. There I began the next phase of my life. I have no regrets about the "hippie"-party phase. I met some wonderful people and saw beautiful places. It was an adventure that I will never forget - but don't want my children to know too much about or try to reproduce!
I got an apartment with Lisa Schumann and a job as an Executive Briefing Coordinator for a Phoenix based hardware/software integration company. I must have been blessed with ability to obtain jobs that I was not qualified for. Lisa and I had a blast! I promise that I went to work hung-over every Tuesday because Monday night was half-off pitchers of Margaritas. I did love that job but knew it was not a career for me.
I met my future husband, Stan, there. He was a Boston based rep. I ended up going to ASU to obtain my teaching certificate and MEd (six credits shy). When I completed student teaching many of my classmates completed their Masters; however, Stan had an opportunity to go to NC for work and I opted to join him. The saga continues...
I moved to Chapel Hill, NC in December and subbed for the remainder of the school year. We were so poor and had the time of our lives. A Dura-Flame log and a gallon of screw cap red wine- we had an evening. I was hired on as a second grade teacher and loved it!
Stan and I bought a house in a suburb of Raleigh. We married in 2000 in Boston and our first son, Jack, was born in May of 2002. I planned on taking a year off of teaching, but have been a stay at home mom ever since. Nick was born in August of 2004. We do have a fur baby, Cassidy, our sweet girl joined our family in 2000.
While vacationing in MI, we saw a decline in housing prices and wanted to live on a lake. My parents were aging and we needed the family support with our crazy kids! So in the fall of 2005 we moved to MI - sometimes we wonder why!
I have enjoyed a closer connection with old friends and my family. We all hate winter here, but it is the price we pay for spring, summer and fall.
Mostly my days are filled with mom stuff. I will admit that I am a terrible mother and if anyone ever feels badly about their parenting they can call me and I will top their story! My husband saves for college for the boys, I save for therapy. Seriously, I was so sick of poison control giving me a lecture about "there is no such thing as child proof, it is child resistant". I stopped calling. Child resistant, obviously my children could not resist! They are still alive, which is my daily goal - Just keep them alive
I am truly happy with my simple life. I am grateful for my family and friends. There have been ups and downs over the years, but that is just part of the roller coaster of life. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion. I will be the one without the Botox* and boob job* - not that I don't need it...
*in no way was the lack of Botox and a boob job an admission that I am not vain. I willingly admit that I am vain, I have always been vain and will always be vain. I am just more frugal than I am vain. It is just wonderful that I married an older man so I am never mistaken for his aunt or older sister! That would suck...
