make a list of 43 memories

I was 5 and my sister was 3. My mom never liked pets…but broke down and got us a kitty. On that fateful first day at our home the poor kitty endured a bath and I endured lots of scratches. I dressed it in my baby clothes and strap it to my stroller to go for a walk in the backyard. Then my sister grabbed it by the tail. Then my mom saved the cat from our loving care. We didn’t even have time to name it. My mom took the kitty and returned it to its mom and previous owner. We were definitely not ready for a pet!!!

My sister and I fought a lot as kids and my mom used to punish us by sending us to our room, which we shared to make peace. We had to think about what we did, then talk to each other, say we were sorry AND hug each other. Then, we would jump through the window to play in the backyard. My mom would watch us through the kitchen window and know we were just fine.

37. Driving from college through the Great Smokey National Park to Gatlinburg and riding on the random ski lift there.

38. My dad getting diagnosed with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer. He never even smoked or hung around smokers or worked with asbestos. This is his third kind of cancer.

39. My first slumber party as a little girl.

40. Realizing that girl scouts were nothing like boy scouts. All we did was sell cookies while the boys got to learn life-saving skills. I call sexism.

41. Sitting on the swings in the backyard with my sisters singing “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”.

42. Playing volleyball in the backyard.

43. Going roller-skating on Friday nights in elementary school.

23. Making appetizer and snack and desert goodies at Christmas time with my family.

24. The same 10 Christmas albums we always listen to every Christmas on the record player.

25. When I touched the hot oven with the back of my hand accidentally and got a second degree burn almost the size of a quarter. The scar is still there.

26. When I realized I had gained way too much weight this year from binging but not purging. So unfortunate.

27. The moment fiance #2 broke it off with me because I found out I was chronically sick and he knew he couldn’t handle it.

28. Getting dumped by my boyfriend of a year and a half in an e-mail. Oh, yes, this happened.

29. Laughing so hard with my sisters until we were crying.

30. Getting “coolies” on Fridays in elementary school. They were basically ice with lots of sugary flavored syrup poured all over. They were like a quarter. We loved Fridays.

31. The time I gave my sister a bloody nose tossing her a rope because the knot in the rope hit her right in the nose.

32. The time I was at softball practice and I slid into home plate and hit my nose on something and got blood everywhere. It wasn’t even a game. Awesome.

33. Feeling validated when I found out at age 28 that I do have A.D.D. and my entire life making SO much more sense.

34. The red tent that my mom would put on my bed for me sometimes and I would feel like I was camping.

35. When I finally learned to tie my shoes…in second grade. I was never quick on these things.

36. Making “radio shows” with my sisters. They were so much fun.

15. Curling up with my cat and reading W.B. Yeats this evening

16. My first trip to a 7-11 that was completely underwhelming.

17. Attending my first Broadway play, The Producers.

18. Sliding down the slide on the playground and the kids thinking it was the coolest thing they’d seen all day.

19. The moment my grandmother passed away.

20. Singing my grandmother’s favorite hymn right before she passed away, then singing the final verse after she’d gone because it felt like we needed the closure.

21. When my sister had her first seizure and thinking I had caused it because I was with her when it started.

22. The moment my ex-boyfriend told me he loved me and I couldn’t say it back yet.

1. Giggling with my sister when we were supposed to be sleeping and laughing even harder for some reason when I say “Mom is coming!”

2. Watching animal shows on Saturday nights with my dad when I was little.

3. Watching Titanic, liking it, and then making the decision it was not good enough to ever sit through 3 hours for again.

4. Getting engaged.

5. Getting engaged…again.

6. Getting diagnosed with fibromyalgia and finally knowing what was wrong after months of unexplained fatigue and pain.

7. The moment I became a Catholic by getting anointed with oil.

8. I loved the look of joy and gratefulness on the face of the woman whose house we built a ramp on so she could ride her wheelchair into her home easily.

9. Getting my bachelor’s degree.

10. Landing my first teaching position before I graduated.

11. Waking up after back surgery to two ornery nurses who asked me to “hop on over” to the bed from the stretcher. I was in so much pain and so drugged I could barely lift my head, much less “hop on over”. That was so idiotic of them.

12. The first real snowfall where I live in over a decade.

13. The moment I learned that instead of a trip to the beach with my dad, I was going to have emergency gallbladder surgery. Awesome.

14. Adopting my second cat.

I don’t know why, but I listed 46 instead of 43. Hm…

Forty three memories

1. crab fishing in SLO
2. yelling that God painted the sky (aka my first sunset)
3. Summer in Sonoma
4. kissing in a dog house when I was three years old
5. eating peach candies and listening to the Jackson 5, Christmas ‘99
6. staying out until 3 a.m. just talking
7. coffee shops with Ashley
8. coffee shops with Ryan
9. the time I ate a dog pill because I thought it was candy
10. shopping in Lawrence with Lindsey
11. going to the San Diego zoo
12. eating at Boston market with dad
13. eating at Subway with dad
14. chicken noodle soup on the stove, winter ‘96
15. Chinese food with Emily and John, Gage park
16. Chinese food with Ryan
17. The day Ginny was born
18. Prom ’07, prom ’08 in Ellsworth
19. Fashion class
20. Drawing Mona Lisa upside down under the desk in Mr. McFarland’s class
21. Haley coming over, asking me to play
22. Roller blading at skating parties
23. Going to museums, any of them with anyone
24. Getting Maddie, Conan, seeing Chauca for the first time
25. Eating watermelon in our swimsuits summer of ‘00
26. Snapping turtle-hunting
27. Sledding down the hill with Tisha, Kaylyn, Lindsey and Lauren
28. Shooting fireworks with Ash, Matt and Kev
29. Kevin throwing fake dog poop at my head
30. Watching Shakespeare in Love with Paige
31. Meeting Jason, going to Lawrence for my mom’s birthday
32. My discovery of World Market
33. Figuring out the creepers at G-Dub are hazardous
34. Taking guitar lessons from that cracked out freak
35. Watching the Ring, playing Ouija board Halloween ’04 with Hannah, Lindsey, Brianna and…?
36. Ouija board with Tisha and Brianna in the summer
37. Laughing with Lauren until I can’t feel my stomach
38. Gossiping with Chris at lunch/government
39. Spending time in Mulvane Art Center with Emily, Ben or Mom
40. Burning Mac and Cheese
41. Taking off my clothes in P.E. in kindergarten
42. Puking olives and pickles into the sink on Thanksgiving
43. Puking chicken fingers on my dad (poor guy)
44. Are you Afraid of the Dark? Gave me nightmares. Thus commences my phobia of the night/sleeping by myself
45. Riding an elephant at the circus with Sam
46. Going to Worlds of Fun, with other Sam when it was empty and riding as many rides as we wanted.

I studied in Berkeley one summer, and I stayed in a house with friends across from the law buildings at Cal. It was an old, Tudor-style house, with a huge great room, winding staircases, and a massive kitchen. In the dining room was a great bay window that overlooked the coffee shop across the street where we often played chess… My friend Angie and I would sit for hours in this window, in the sun, talking about everything. Angie died in a car accident that September after we returned to LA… my favorite memories of her are still those long afternoons in the bay window in Berkeley.

friday night and part of saturday morning was an unforgettable night…hannah and i went to westshore to see the new movie Baby momma…after that we met up with a few people up at the normal place in hyde park…hung out there for a while before nhung, hannah, and i went over to ybor so we could try and get a tattoo…but we were cutting it kind of close so nhung didn’t her tattoo but i did get my industrial finally…after that we were all pumped…especially me…so we went back to the hyde park area to meet back up with the people were hanging out with earlier to show off my new piercing…and we ended up talking to some drunk guy who was mad at his room mate for leaving him and was offering 5 dollar blow jobs to the people getting in the taxis…after that we ended up going to brandon to hang out one of the guys house…needless to say it was a great night…even getting home at 5 am wasn’t to bad…