5.18.08

A college friend reminded me that today is the 5 year anniversary of when we graduated from the University of Virginia!

(Before Stephen Colbert was the Valedictory speaker)

Walking to bars at 7 AM with some great roomies:)

Mimosa's at Biltmore

PC '05!

My love, Cate!

Alpha Chi Omega's

The Rotunda with all the graduates before the processional

Happy:)

The Parentals

Brian had to rep the siblings since Nate was in New Zealand

Woot!

The day before graduation on the lawn- notice my right ankle is very swollen- I sprained it a few days before!

 

Seems so long ago and so recent at the same time. I guess we do all look a bit younger! I am excited to see so many of my great UVA friends at reunions in 3 weeks- a great tradition that brings back many alumni for a weekend of reliving college traditions. I will have to work on my alcohol tolerance before then!

Things I Forget

I have been thinking lately about how you have so many memories, but you never think of them every day or at one moment, so often we forget the happy, sad, fun, awkward, or embarrassing things that have happened to us.

Here are some memories that I had not thought of until recently:

• Playing in the evenings with my dad behind my neighborhood elementary school and being carried home on his shoulders listening to his feet hit the gravel and the "crunch" sound that makes.

• Getting in trouble in music class in kindergarten when I refused to stand up (I said "no" when the teacher asked everyone to get up), and my music teacher dragged me to the class door and made me sit until class was over. My classroom teacher then told me how disappointed she was in me because I was the line leader that week. I was traumatized and never got in trouble in school again. Ironically, I loved music.

• Sitting at baseball games watching my brothers play and eating ice cream cones on blankets in the grass.

• Monday night ravioli and bagel nights when dad worked late. Such a luxury!
   
• Before I had a Ken doll, Barbie was a lesbian!! How did I know about lesbians at age 8? I have no idea, but I was always open-minded! I know my mom and dad had no idea what Barbie was doing...
  
  
  
  My looks may be deceiving...
   
• In middle school, it was a GREAT week if I didn't get in a fight with one of my friends. Why do I remember middle school so fondly, then?
  
  
  
  Love ya this week.
  
   
• In high school I learned the importance of "squatting" when you pee. Except one time I missed and peed all over my pants. I had to walk around the rest of the day with a jacket tied around my waste. I thought it was hilarious!
   
• During my 3rd year of college, I shared a double parking space with a sorority sister since we lived in the house. This meant that we each had each others key and had to move the others car if we were parked in. How annoying that was (good thing you don't drive much in college)!
   
• I *did* do the college spring break/beach week thing and spent money, had fun and survived. So I guess I used to be able to drink more than two drinks without getting drunk?
  

 

• The awful summer of 2010 when I interviewed and interviewed and interviewed and finally got a job 4 days before I had to start. I need to remember that awful feeling of not knowing if I would be able to not only take care of myself, but prove to people that I deserved a job. I need to be reminded of this on days at work that I am fed up with everything!

Throwback

  

A little college throwback in honor of my 4 years since graduation (officially on May 18th). So thankful for my college experience, where it brought me, what I have done since, and, mostly, the amazing people I met and still keep in touch with!

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today I woke up with 20/450 vision (meaning I would run into things without glasses or contacts on) and went to bed on my way to 20/15.

Happy Anniversary, New Eyes!

It amazes me to think it has been a year. I vividly remember the annoyances of glasses and contacts, but my eye site is so good now that I don't even think about how FABULOUS it is that I don't need either anymore. It will pay off for me everyday for the rest of my life, even though the initial monetary payment is done. I know I may eventually need reading glasses, but I am covered for any other eye adjustments until I die. Woooo! So for those of you thinking about Lasik....DO IT!

Also, this anniversary got me to thinking about something that I do that not a lot of other people do. I have all of my daily planners with homework assignments and what I have done on afternoons, evenings and weekends since I was fourteen. So I am able, on any given day, to flip open my planners and know exactly what I did each day. I am glad I started this, because I think is it nice to go back and remember where I went, who I was with, if I worked or volunteered or what kind of test I had the next day in school. It's fun to occasionally take a trip down memory lane, and it is a very cool way to remember even the smallest things (because those are what make up the bulk of our lives) or how you were feeling (since events are tied to feelings). I've come far since fourteen... and even since last year, not just thanks to my new eyes, but for positive changes all around!

Top 5 of '11

Since I did this post last year, I will continue the tradition again with the top 5 events in my life in 2011. Not as exciting this year but they are....

5. Summer Vacation: 5 separate trips in 8 weeks was pretty amazing and 3 of those were to a beach, so no complaints there. I do love the work schedule of school.

4. Singing: After a 3 1/2 year hiatus, I began singing again on a regular basis in a self-formed a cappella group. January will be our one year anniversary and it has been a wonderful experience with new friends and reconnecting with old ones in Treble in RVA City!

3. Engagements! Ok, so not one event, but so many of my close friends got engaged this year and I am PUMPED for their weddings and awesome soon-to-be-husbands! They made some GREAT choices:)

2. Running: I made great strides in my running this year in terms of weekly mileage and speed and am gearing up for a half marathon in 2012 (though WHEN I do that is still TBD).

1. Moving to the fan: It's been amazing living in the historic city of Richmond, and I am so happy I made the decision to move out of the suburbs and experience the urban life of walking to restaurants, shops and other friends' places!

The Little Things

I think life is made up of the little things. Not the job promotion or the house you bought (though they can help), but the time your friend sent you a card or when you had a nice night in watching a movie with a good friend or spent a lazy afternoon reading at a coffee shop. Little things are what make us happy or get us down. I can have an overall awful day, but something so small can make it better. Or my day can be going fine and a little annoyance will ruin it.

It is also is the little things we tend to forget. I was looking through emails yesterday and came across old emails I sent my last semester of college (when our email system was switched to gmail so they were saved). It was really fun to look back and read what I had sent and received. My dad and I emailed each other daily all while I was in college- just about what we had done and how our day was. Now it is a nice diary of what my life was like. I had forgotten what I sent friends or what my job and school were like, and these emails gave me a chance to relive those moments.

I also had forgotten (or failed to think about) what the routine of my days were like in college- whether it was class, work, the library, my marathon of TV show viewing my 4th year when I took less classes, or time with friends. And thinking about all those little things makes me smile.  I live similarly now as I did in college- I still enjoy work, working out, reading at coffee shops and watching TV, but seeing those emails and remembering what college was like- with best friends living across the hall and events going on constantly- makes me really appreciate life.

And all the little things that make it worth it. I just need to sometimes be reminded not to let the little things get to me when I can’t control them.

Changin'

 

It seems to me that the more we change...

...and grow...

...the more we stay the same...

...and keep on staying...

... I guess part of who we are is innate from birth.

Ten Years Ago Today

I was fifteen, a sophomore in high school. I was in my chorus class for 3rd period when the band teacher came into the room and told my teacher that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I had never been to New York and didn't even really know what the building was. We were all confused, and many of my classmates got nervous because they had family or friends in NYC. The bell rang and I went to my next class (Mrs. McGrath's Perspectives course) and we told her what we had heard. We had access to a TV and watched it all unfold. I stood by the TV to give it better reception. We saw (live) both towers collapse. There was confusion and sadness. I remember most how sad I was for something and people I never knew. It was as if everyone knew that with those Towers collapsing, life as we knew it would never be the same.

I have now been to New York City 5 or 6 times. I have seen where the Towers stood and walked where the devastation occurred. I have watched the videos of that day near Ground Zero and know how scary and awful it was. Most of my adult life has been post- 9/11. Terrorism, airport security and a different New York have been most of all I have ever known. In 5 years half of my life will be post-9/11. It is getting harder to remember what it was even like before, though I still hold on to the little that I do.

But what I take most of that day is how people came together; sitting in front of the TV in shock and knowing that life would be different; that our world was changing and as safe as we felt or thought we were, we really will never be 100% safe again; that there would be a before and after 9/11. And a distinct difference.

However, as time has gone by, life feels just the same that it did. I used to get choked up whenever I thought about 9/11. Now it doesn't hit me as hard. But I always remember it when flying or going to NYC or driving by the Pentagon. It will never be forgotten, but the pain is less and life is more like it was before. Maybe that's not good, maybe the feeling I used to get while thinking about that day should never go away. But life is about moving on and I will always remember 9/11/01 as a day of sadness and shock, but also as a day that America really came together. I only wish it didn't take tragedies like that to unite our nation as one.

Ten years later it feels different, but is never forgotten. I will never forget.

Family Matters

I think it's easy to forget your roots sometimes as you go through life. I had a great weekend reconnecting with family in Ohio. My mom and I visited my Grandmother in Springfield (my uncle and cousin were also there- she is 91 and still living on her own) and then went to Worthington, where I used to live, to tour OSU, walk around our old stomping grounds, and visit more family.

I always enjoy learning about my grandparents lives and what it was like living through the Depression, World War 2, Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Vietnam and everything in between. What an exciting century to live in. They became flexible people who embraced change while never losing site of who they were. I admire my grandparents for all that they experienced. I am lucky to have 2 grandmothers still living, and I really cherish the times I get to see them because I know it won't last forever. And when they go I know it will be even less frequent that I see my aunts, uncles and cousins, since we live all over the country and many of them are already married, so there aren't many weddings left. I have pledge to myself to be a good communicator by sending cards and keeping up with what is going on in heir lives. It will be hard, but I hope I can do it. Luckily, facebook does make keeping in touch easier...(facebook sure has changed from when I joined it in 2004!)

Trips like this help keep life in perspective and are a good reminder of the importance of family, even if distance separates your frequent visits.