39 - Still young and clinging to it...
38 - A new hip, Ramona, and a new lease on life.
37 -
36 - Landed that dream job at Holt after three years of long-term subbing...
35 - Feeling on top of the world, except that...
34 - Lost my mom and very best friend to pancreatic cancer. How can I do this without her?
33 - This is how old Jesus was... What on earth am I doing with my life?!?
32 -
31 - We bought a house and made it a home.
30 - A surprise party from my dearest, a teacher certification finally earned, and a little too much wine.
29 - and holding
28 - Back to school to finally finish. Ethel was this age when she attended EMU; but it was the Michigan Normal School back then.
27 -
26 - A growing love with a commitment to stay
25 -
24 - AmeriCorps and making a difference. I won't join the military or carry a gun. Instead, I will build your trails and teach your inner city youth to read. But I will NOT fight your unjust wars.
23 - Life begins at 23 because you're not 21 anymore, remember?
Turned 22 - under the Eiffel Tower - Europe on a shoestring
21 - Well, what was so exciting about that?
20 - Hurry up! Hurry up! I want to be 21!
19 - Please, Ethel, (croaked in a gravelly voice) don't call me at college before 8 A.M. on a Saturday.
18 - MSU, here I come. I hope you are ready for me!
17 - Finally!! I got my license after having driven without it and been apprehended. DAMN!
16 - Sweet sixteen and had been kissed way too many times.
15 - Move to the square, cowboy state of Wyoming - unbeknownst to me this would be the best thing to happen. My fire for learning and English was lit and I was forever changed.
14 - I've lost something - I wish I had it still.
13 - Back to Michigan after nine years in Germany. Home sweet home yet I am different than everyone else.
12 -
11 -
10 - Germany as the daughter of an in-flight navigator. Living the dream of Italy in the summer and the Swiss Alps in the winter - Perfect from the outside, to be sure.
9 -
8 -
7 - Baptized into a faith that would eventually lose faith in me
6 -
5 - Attended kindergarten - ahead of the curve - school work as easy a pie
4 -
3 - German preschool where I refused to learn any more than a German request to use the toiletten - bitte.
2 -
1 - I would bite my brother's finger whenever he would put it in my mouth - laugh - repeat
6 months - a dislocated hip - just discovered and a cast that stretched from my tiny hips to my dinky left ankle - don't forget the poop hole
0 - Almost a forties baby, an offered abortion, my mother's dream come true.
"Think Pink," they'd said. She had.