Week #31 – Spring. What was spring like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

I don’t remember much about Spring as a season growing up.  Often times it was still snowing and too cold outside to do anything.  School was still in session so I’m guessing most of my time was spent doing homework and watching TV inside at night.  Spring doesn’t bring up memories like Summer, Fall and Winter do.

Week #30 – Employment. Describe your first job. What did you do? Were you saving for something in particular, or just trying to make a living? Did that first job provide skills and make an impact on your life today?

I worked for my DaD before I ever worked for any kind of corporation.  My very first job was an assistant disk jockey to him for his business, Rainbow Music.  He was a DJ for weddings and special events throughout central Michigan.  I earned a significant amount of money as a young girl in middle and high school helping him out.  I knew it was a lot of money but I didn’t realize just how lucky I was that he was sharing the earnings with me until years later.  He didn’t have to split the money but he did.  I think it was his way of buying my attendance so he could spend some time with me and keep me out of trouble.  It worked!  He usually gave me $100-$150 per weekend/gig, which was a whole lot of money for a kid in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s.  After the cost of travel, promotion, records and equipment, my DaD was in the red, I’m sure of it.

Another venture DaD began was called Data/Graphics.  He hired me to input data into a spreadsheet program and paid me by the hour for the work I did.  I kept a meticulous log to the minute of all the time I spent entering data into the spreadsheet.  I think he paid me about $4.00/hr which was good money for the work I was doing.

My first actual job outside the home was at a salon on State Street in Saginaw.  I only lasted about a week before I decided that sweeping hair and taking phone calls wasn’t for me.  I don’t even think they ever paid me for my time.

My second job was at Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers on State Street, just a few doors down from the salon.  I started in the back kitchen washing dishes, preparing the baked potatoes and toasting the hamburger buns.  I also learned how to make the breadsticks.  I learned quickly that you better pay attention to what the manager is telling you.  I punched in 10 minutes early once and got screamed at!  I thought being early was a good thing, but I guess it’s not good when they are paying you by the minute. I think I was earning about $4.25/hr at Wendy’s.

I got the job to help me pay for gas for the car my DaD gave me when I turned 16.  I think I lasted about 2 or 3 months at Wendy’s over the summer of 1994 before I got a better opportunity at Dow Corning Corporation in Hemlock as a school internship. I believe I received quite a raise, too – somewhere around $5.15/hr if I remember correctly!

Just as school was starting, I met with my counselor who told me about an internship opportunity exclusively for seniors.  Seniors who had enough credits could apply for a part time job in the afternoons as part of a work study program.  She helped me write my very first resume, fill out the application, and I went in for my first true job interview.  (Wendy’s wasn’t for me, anyway.)  In fact, I applied for three internships and was offered all three – something that shocked my counselor because students were rarely accepted by even one company.

This was also an important exercise in politics for me.  I went in to interview for an administrative assistant position at the front desk.  The woman who interviewed me, Kay Michael, was dating the head of Computer Services named Bill Thompson.  When I told her I had extensive experience with computers, she got the smart idea in her head to help out her boyfriend by assigning me to his department.  Since they were going to put me to work with computers and the other two companies wanted me answering phones, I chose Dow Corning.  The Medical Products Plant was famous for making breast and penile silicone implants and got a lot of lawsuits due to broken implants.  My friend Angie Grunow worked in the legal department filing paperwork about the lawsuits.

I accepted the job offer, and became the “Junior Network Administrator” for Dow Corning Corporation’s Medical Products Plan in Hemlock, Michigan.  I worked there every afternoon during senior year.  I had what was known as “open lunch” and could leave campus while everyone else went to lunch.  It was a privilege few kids had and lots of them tried to sneak off campus by hitching a ride with me, but I had to get to work so I never let them.  I ate at Long John Silver’s on State Street every day on my way to work.

I was hired on September 12, 1994.  My official job description was “Managing, maintaining, and backing up a Novell Netware LAN Server; technical support of end users on a local area network; using Microsoft Office productivity applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access.”  At my job I did things like helping the employees fix problems with their computers, and installing Microsoft Office from 27 3.5” disks – one at a time!  I taught classes to the employees on how to use the Microsoft Office products.  I was also in charge of changing the backup tape for the LAN Server every day -  a job which I took very, very seriously.

This was 1994, and computer networks were just starting to pop up at the largest companies in the world.  Dow was ahead of the game, and I learned how to run a ring network with physical cables that formed a complete circle around the building.  If one computer went off the network, it affected connectivity of all of the other computers.  Since we were in a factory environment with clean rooms, I had to wear steel toed boots and got my forklift license.  When I had to go into the assembly line clean room, I had to strip down into my undies and put on blue garb and bootie covers with a hair net.  Then I had to be blown off with air before I could go into the clean room and help someone with their computer.  It was a bizarre environment but taught me a whole lot about work ethic and responsibility.

Week #29 – Water. Do you have any memories of the sea or another body of water? Did you live there or just visit? What did you do there? You can also describe a body of water by which you live or visit in the present day.

When I think of water, I think of Mio.  My Mom lived up north in Mio and I visited her most summers.  We used to swim a lot at Loon Lake, and float down the Ausable River on intertubes or canoes.

When I got my braces off, the doctor gave me a retainer but I was too cool to wear it most of the time.  I lost it in Loon Lake while visiting my mother for the summer.  We searched everywhere in the lake that I had been, but we couldn’t find it.  I did this also with my glasses one time; I also lost those in Loon Lake.  Both of these items, my mother came back and found the next day.  How she found them I have no idea, but she did.  My retainer, after being salvaged from the bottom of Loon Lake, was soon lost again when it dropped from my pocket while coming home from the Mio Saloon one day.  When my mom came home from work she had no way to know that she parked her car on top of it in the driveway.  A few days went by, and then she noticed it in the driveway.  We later calculated that she had driven over it six or seven times.  By this time it was it was a twisted piece of metal with two small pieces of broken pink plastic.  I don’t think her or my dad was very happy with me, but when you’re 10 you don’t realize the repercussions of your actions.

Boat Launch at the Ausable River

Floating down the Ausable was always an adventure.  It was a few miles from one boat launch to the next.  We would get dropped off by a van in Mio and float together for a few hours until the next launch, where a van would be waiting for us to bring us back home.  I distinctly remember my sister being scared of the Pike fish in the river because somebody told her they bite!  She was afraid one was going to reach up and chomp her in the ass through the intertube.  I also remember crashing into the side of the river on multiple occasions, usually into an overhanging tree that would dump spiders on my head.  I got sunburned to the extreme floating down the Ausable.  We didn’t use sunscreen in those days, or wear hats or sunglasses.  Thinking back, the whole thing was mostly stupid and dangerous, but I was just doing what Mom told me to do.

I had an opportunity in middle school to accompany one of my friends, Jennifer Naegele, with her family on a boat out on Lake Michigan.  We went out for a few short hours one Saturday and that was more than enough for me.  I was terrified of being out on open water in a tiny little boat.  The waves made me extremely seasick.  I didn’t like that trip at all!

My encounters with water today are basically limited to crossing the Hoover Dam.  “Hey look, there’s the water line!  Boy is it low.”  That’s about as close to water as we get.

Week #28 – Summer. What was summer like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

Summers in my youth were all about heading outside to play.  Every day, all day long and into the evening hours, I was outside playing with my friends and wandering around the neighborhood.  I can’t imagine my kids doing that today; it’s far too dangerous to be wandering by yourself all over the neighborhood.  I’m sure it wasn’t safe then either, but that was the norm. I used to play in the ditch next to the house and tromp through the woods and climb random trees.  I would ride my dirt bike through the hills trying not to hit a tree.

I spent the entirety of the summer of 1988 playing with Jennifer Strachan.  We roller skated all over the neighborhood and lusted after Ray Huber.  We wrote him secret love letters and skated by his house to see if we could catch a glimpse of him.  Jennie and I attended All Night Skates, where the roller rink was open overnight for a nonstop party.  Half of my class of Bridgeport Middle School was there and dozens of relationships were started and ended in the course of one night.  It was the summer of fun!

Some of my summers were spent in Mio at my Mom’s house.  I spent most of my time at the Mio Saloon because she was a bartender there, so I shot pool and darts and shuffleboard while she was tending the bar.  Weeks at a time, every night from 6pm to 2am I was at the bar hustling drunk guys at pool and darts for money.  Really.  I won, a lot, too.  I often wandered around Mio during the daytime while Mom was at home.  I would check out Our Lady of the Woods Shrine, a Catholic shrine that my Mom used to attend when she was a little girl.  I would take the money I won the previous night and check out the local antique shops for little knick-knacks to buy, or head over to the ice cream stand to buy some mint chocolate chip in a cone.

Week #27 – Vacation. Where did your family go on vacation? Did you have a favorite place? Is it still there? If not, how has the area changed?

Jessica at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

During the summer of 1989, I was invited to join my Grandma and Grandpa Cole with cousin Christopher on a trip “out west” from Indiana.  They rotated through the cousins, taking one with Christopher on a road trip each summer.  On this trip, we visited Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, Old Faithful, the Continental Divide, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Badlands National Park, the Grand Tetons, and everything in between.

I was impressed by Mount Rushmore.  Its size and scale, coupled by the serenity of the trees, was a very nice place to visit.  Yellowstone National Park was huge.  I remember us driving circles around Lake Yellowstone trying to find a place to park the RV but we couldn’t, so we had to leave.  Old Faithful was an exercise in patience.  “Sit here and sometime in the next 15 minutes, this geyser will shoot up for a few seconds.”  I remember thinking to myself how hot it was, how bored I was, and what was the point of this thing?  At that point in the trip I think being with my grandparents was starting to wear on me.

We also passed by the Continental Divide which was a non-event in my mind.  The Black Hills of South Dakota offered me an opportunity to peruse the gift shops and look at all the neat rocks available for sale.  I think I bought a few specimens which were lost to the years.  I liked the fool’s gold and anything shiny and colorful.  The Badlands National Park is what sticks in my mind most about this trip.  The hills were so colorful, like rainbows that went on for miles and miles.  I loved watching out the window as we drove through the area and counting how many color strips were displayed in a single hill.  I was also impressed by the size of the Grand Teton Mountains.

Grandpa Cole owned a huge Winnebago RV camper and insisted that we stay only at KOA Kampgrounds during the entire trip.  We drove only during the daytime, and my Grandpa also forced me to eat anything he decided to cook that night, including steak.  Yuck!  I certainly wasn’t used to that.  My parents never made me eat anything.  It was quite a rude awakening – as was the time I was using the bathroom and we hit a major bump in the road.  I fell into the toilet, and Grandma had to come rescue me.  How embarrassing!  I sure had fun though!  It’s a trip I will never forget.

Week 26: Weddings. Tell us about your wedding. 

Ten years ago this week, I married my very best friend!  Our wedding was incredible.  We were married on February 2, 2002 in Oceola County, Florida at the Walt Disney World Wilderness Lodge Resort on the Sunrise Terrace balcony.  A destination wedding was the perfect choice for us.  It was an intimate affair with our closest immediate family in attendance.  Andrew’s mother, father and sister came, and my mother, my father and his wife, my sister and her husband joined us.  Andrew’s sister Amy was his Best Woman and my sister Kathleen was my Matron of Honor for the ceremony.  It was very non-traditional.  It was perfect.

I have written extensively about our wedding down to every last detail.  Here is an excerpt featuring the wedding day itself and all the exciting things that happened before and after the ceremony.

The alarm went off at 3:30am. Andrew and I were too excited to really make a fuss about the time. We got up almost immediately and started to get ready. He took a shower while I pulled on my underwear for the dress.

Allison showed up to do my hair and makeup at 4:00am on the dot! She was all dressed and ready to roll. She got right to work and it took her until about 5:10am to complete my hairstyle. She started in on makeup and it was 5:30am when she finished. Then she touched up a blemish for Andrew and set out all of our touch-up makeup. She helped me into my gown, which she had me step into. I tipped her $20 and she was off to another appointment at 5:45am! Just then, Amy arrived from the fourth floor to help me bustle the gown. She got it all hooked up and we were off to the lobby right at 6:00am.

Castle Portrait at Walt Disney World

Mike Strickland (our photographer) was waiting in the lobby for us. He loaded us into the white van and we were off. Oops, I forgot my bouquet! Turned around and back, Mike went inside and grabbed it from the front desk. Then we were off again at 6:10am. We first did the shots with the colored castle in the background, because it was still dark. We went up to the right side and took more shots, then onto the front stage. Then it was inside the castle lobby. After a few, we went outside up the stairs and did the posed shots in front of the windows by the turrets. Warning: it’s VERY dirty up there, they don’t appear to clean it often. There were leaves and mud and slimy things everywhere. Then Mike took a few in the rose garden and then we went over to Adventure Land to get some on the Ferry Boat. A few last shots in front of the Presidential building and we were done. It was 7:40am when we finished.

Magic Kingdom Portraits

Mike dropped us back off at the Wilderness Lodge with my bouquet, and we saw my Mom smoking out front. We kind of passed her off (my apologies Mom!) due to total exhaustion. We came right up to the room and grabbed breakfast from the concierge after removing our wedding garb. Then it was naptime from 8am until 11am. Dana from Carolyn Allen’s showed up at 11am to re-steam my gown and drop off my Mom’s dress. I am SO glad I booked her for two steamings. The gown was a mess when we got to Orlando from storage and the trip. It was also a total wreck when we finished the Magic Kingdom portraits with dirt, grass stains, water stains, and wrinkles galore. Dana got it ALL out and the gown looked perfect again! Amazing, and highly recommended, especially if you do your MK portraits before the wedding.

At 12:00pm, Marcia and Irene showed up from Disney Cosmetology to do the girls’ hair. Amy went first, and she got a French twist. My Mom got rollers and then my sister had her hair up just like mine, without the veil of course. Amy’s hair is down past her waist, and Marcia had no problem making it look perfect in a twist! We were all shocked. Irene did Mom’s and Kathleen’s hair in no time flat. Marcia is fairly quiet, and Irene is a total hoot! Marcia said on 02/02 they alone had 10 weddings, with anywhere from two to nine hairstyles each. She said they had 17 cast members doing hairstyles that day. It was a very busy day for weddings at Disney!

Walking Down the Aisle with DaD

Around 1:45pm, the stylists completed and left. I tipped them each another $10 for their help. Amy went down with my Mom to start getting dressed, and Andrew’s parents showed up and joined Amy to get Jerald (his Dad) ready in his tux. At 2:00pm, Kathleen got dressed and they started dressing me at around 2:10pm. My Dad showed up at about 2:20pm and he quickly got into his tux in our bathroom. At 2:25pm, we went down to the fourth floor where all the action was starting to begin.

Brad Crews, our coordinator, showed up around 2:40pm. Rob, our violinist, was there already and was practicing off to the side in the main hallway. All of the furniture was arranged previously somehow, and the candles were placed outside. The florist had already been there and Kathleen went back upstairs to get the bouquet and bout that we forgot in our rented fridge. They were already wilting a bit by the start of the wedding (and were basically dead by the end of photos). They had been done the afternoon before so we could have them for the MK photos. The two videographers (I forget their names!) and our photographer, Mike Strickland, were there too. One of our videographers asked me to say a word to Andrew before the wedding, and then asked Andrew afterwards to do the same for me. I can’t wait to see the videos!!

During the Ceremony

The time was 2:50 and Brad was asking me lots of questions about logistics. The waiter gave me some water. Then I saw the cake! It was SOOO pretty! We thought it was going to be small from the photos but oh boy, it was HUGE. We didn’t ask for anything special on the cake, just to use our own topper. Disney did a great job, and the cake was totally delicious! The videographer caught my first reaction to the cake and I was so giddy!

Reverend Day showed up around 2:55pm. He gave me a great big hug and told us how proud and happy he was to be performing our ceremony for us. It was time to go on stage! I discussed the veil with my Dad and Andrew, and then totally forgot to put it down over my face because the start was so rushed and exciting! First, the mothers walked in. Then Amy (best woman) walked in. Kathleen walked in really slowly and then it was our turn! My Dad took my arm and he went through the door first, then me. We got through the doorway and past the first bench and stood there for a minute while people took photos.

Toasting and Cutting the Cake

Dad walked me up to the front and confirmed to Reverend Day that he was the one to give me away. We did a triple handshake toe loop backwards forearm freak move with the handoff, but eventually we got the right hands in the right places! I was in Andrew’s hands now!

Most of the ceremony is kind of a blur. I remember trying to decipher which parts of the ceremony I had written, and which parts Reverend Day was adding in. At that point I had no idea. He was just telling us what to do and when. Andrew and I both made it through our vows just fine. We even got the rings on perfectly fine. I do remember when I turned toward Andrew and took both of his hands, I thought, “Oh my God, I’m getting married!” When speaking the vows, I was thinking, did I write that? Whatever, I was just going with the flow! Andrew had this smirk grin thing on his face the whole time, and I was so happy I could NOT stop smiling and glowing bright! I’m sure the photos will show how excited I was and how nervous Andrew was.

Handmade wedding favors with a custom bound book, programs and Ty Halo II Beanie Babies

The Moms lit the tapers and we lit the unity candle. Then we exchanged our first gift, a single ivory presentation rose, and we also presented them to our parents (which was a surprise to them all). We had our first kiss, which was excellent! Then we were pronounced, “Mr. and Mrs. Andrew and Jessica Green.” Pictures pictures pictures, everywhere! We walked slowly straight into the video cameras down the aisle and out the door, over to the cake table inside. About five seconds later, Kathleen and Amy came out with Mickey Ears on their heads! They had conspired together and added a little Disney to our non-Disney wedding, unbeknown to us! Ahh well, I’m sure it looks great on camera.

The cider was poured for our toast and Amy gave her speech to everyone, which was very nice! It was short and sweet. Kathleen said a few words too, as did Andrew’s father, who really wants me to call him “Dad!” We toasted several times and then we cut the cake together. It was incredible; I really wanted more of it! In fact I think I did eat more of it before we left for pictures. We had our “first dance” in the hallway. Andrew really didn’t want to, but he did it for me anyway. We swung around like one or two times, and then my Dad cut in on cue. I swung around a few times with my Dad, and that was it!

Waving From Sunset Point Balcony

The entire time, I had no idea what the violinist was playing. I heard him a few times but couldn’t make out what the music was! I don’t know if it was excitement, adrenaline, or just disillusionment, but I’ll have to watch the tape to figure out what happened. One of the videographers took off, and our violinist left too. Kathleen and Amy signed our marriage license, and Reverend Day left quickly after. At around 3:30pm, Brad presented us with our Disney Wedding Certificate, and our special gift. I won’t reveal it per DM unspoken code, but it’s very nice!

Brad took care of all of the candles, the cake, the serving set, the toppers (we got to keep the porcelain Mickey and Minnie topper even though we didn’t use it) and everything else. He put them all up in our room, on the bed, and we put it all away later. It was time for photos! I had given Mike a listing of our wish list and he used it to get all of our pictures. We went outside the back of the Wilderness Lodge, next to Silver Falls waterfall, for most of the family photos.

The Wedding Party - Amy, Andrew, Jessica and Kathleen

Traveling through the lobby and out by the pool was surreal. Everyone stopped to say congratulations, good luck, and a few said “too bad”. We ignored those last folks. I had an entire fan club of children, mostly little girls. The mommies would say, “Look, she just got married, isn’t she pretty?” They would wave to me and stare in amazement. Some little girls came up and gave me a hug, after Mom asked if it was ok. I shook a lot of toddler’s hands and a bazillion folks took my picture! 99% of the attention was focused on me and not Andrew, which I thought was sad but Andrew loved getting away from it all. He wanted me to shine, and he was holding the spotlight so nobody could see HIM behind it! I loved every single second of it.

Little kids would be running up to the slide at the pool and stop in their tracks when they saw us getting photos taken. It took us a bit more time than usual to do the photos at WL because so many little wet kids were running in our camera path. Also, in the background of the waterfall is a lookout point, which sometimes tourists would stop on. Mike was so funny! He would wave at them until he got their attention, and asked if they wanted to be on camera (very sarcastically).

Our Entire Family Together

After most of our photos, we went back through the lobby and outside the front down to the left path on the steps to the parking lots. We got some train shots of my gown and a few more family photos there. Then we called it a wrap! The gown was bustled back up, and we went in to take some candid shots. A man stopped on the path and said that his son had just had a vow renewal and I asked what the last name was! I couldn’t believe it, it was KIM! I begged him to have Kim come and find me, I wanted to meet her so badly! He promised to tell her. Andrew and I went up to the Terrace and all of the camera family members went down to the pool area. They took a bunch of photos of us up on the terrace from below. The people downstairs were clapping at us! We kept smooching for photo opportunities from the balcony.

We realized we had not photographed the rings and my beautiful nails (which I spent nine weeks growing and protecting). Kathleen and Mom took photos for us with the bouquet and our new rings. Andrew keeps complaining that there’s something stuck on his finger, and Mom kept telling him he’ll get used to it.

Andrew’s Dad came up to get us and said he found Kim! I ran downstairs (well, down the elevator) and Kim was there! I gave her a big hug and we each got pictures for our DM scrapbook. We both had to go so we only had a second to say hi, but I can’t wait to read her recaps! Andrew and I then went back up to our room to drop off some stuff.

We went back downstairs and waited at Artist Point for a few minutes until they opened at 5:30pm. We were seating promptly at a long table in the back left corner. I can’t say enough great things about AP, it was unbelievable! The background music was wonderfully soft and pleasant. The seating arrangement was great for twelve people. We had waiters getting our drinks right away, and they took our orders promptly. One nice thing about AP is that they started with the bride, and went clockwise around the table taking all the women’s orders, then took the groom and all the men’s orders. It was subtle but very regal.

And They Lived Happily Ever After

I went way out of my own league and tried something I never thought I would try: the Mixed Grill! Elk, ostrich and venison meats with purple potatoes ($34)! I actually liked every one of them, especially the venison! Andrew had the grilled buffalo sirloin ($30), which he thought was really good. My Mom and Karen both had the chicken dish, and they both liked it. I don’t think anyone disliked anything about the food or the service! We were all very, very pleased. They cut the cake and brought it out for dessert, which was perfect! Everyone was so stuffed from the meal, it was hard to eat the cake but we couldn’t help it! Total bill for 10 adults and 2 children: $438.

We rushed from the restaurant with the extra cake (later given to the concierge staff for them to eat) and quickly got out of our wedding attire. I still had the veil on my head because I didn’t have time to remove it. Our honeymoon coordinator, Matt Titus, threw together a really quick Fireworks cruise with only 4 hours notice. We went out to the loading dock behind the WL at 7:30pm and hopped on a private covered motorboat to go out and watch the fireworks. It was a little chilly but not too bad! We had a great time chatting and looking at all the scenery. We had already seen the fireworks from Narcoossee’s the night before, but we still enjoyed them all from the lake.

After the boat docked around 8:30pm, we tipped the driver ($10) and said goodbye to Andrew’s parents and Amy. We said goodbye also to my Dad and Karen after cashing his traveler’s checks wedding gift to us at the front desk. Kathleen, Joe, Ashley and Cole went back to the All Stars Movies resort. Andrew and I went up to see Mom and she gave me all the Polaroid’s she had taken so we can scan them in and send them back to her. She also gave us her wedding gift to us (more cash).

Andrew and I went back up to our room on the seventh floor to clean up and remove my veil. It only took us about six minutes to take out the 42 pins in my hair and remove the veil. We had the luggage services come up and take the three tuxedos and my wedding gown down to the bell desk for Carolyn Allen’s to pick up the next morning. After cleaning up the room enough to sleep, we literally crashed at 11pm due to total exhaustion.

Week #25 – Neighbors. Who were your childhood neighbors? Have you kept in touch with any of them? Do you feel the concept of “neighbors” has changed since then?

We lived on a dead end in Bridgeport with only one neighbor – Loreen Scheidler and her kids Ty and Heather.  Kathleen was good friends with Heather and I had a mega-crush on Ty, who was much older than us.  He used to sit on the back deck with his boombox and blast cassette tapes of Twisted Sister and Mötley Crüe in the early 1980’s.  I have no idea what happened to them.  When they moved on, a new family moved in with a young girl my age named Angie.  We became friends for a few years until I moved away to Saginaw, but I never kept in touch with her either.

People these days are much less likely to know their neighbors than they were when I was growing up.  At least, that’s how it seems to me.  We know three of our neighbors today.  I even took them Christmas cookies this year, which was a first in the ten years we’ve lived here.  One of them sent their little daughter back to our house with a plate in return.  People just don’t do that anymore.  None of our neighbors have approached us for anything except a quick wave when passing them on the street.

Week #24 – Clothes. What types of clothes did you wear as a child? What was “in fashion” and did your style compare? What types of clothes did you wear as a child? What was “in fashion” and did your style compare?

Clothes and fashion – two words that didn’t go together in my vocabulary.  Clothes were to keep you at the right temperature and make sure your legs didn’t chafe.  Clothes kept you dry when it was raining and warm when the snow was falling.  Clothes fostered swimming in the summer, and long arms on shirts kept you from getting poison ivy in the ditch.

Clothes are for comfort and purpose, not aesthetics.  That’s my Mom talking right there, let me tell you.  My sister is the exact opposite.

All of my friends wore Nike shoes with neon laces and Adidas jackets.  They sported ten Swatch watches on one arm and a thousand jelly and bangle bracelets.  They wore jean jackets with buttons featuring New Kids on the Block.  They wore Wrangler jeans with the legs rolled up.  Their hair was perfect with those late 80′s sky-high bangs or elaborate french braids with half a can of Aqua Net holding it in place even during a tornado.

I’ve never had a sense of fashion or the concept of style. I’m sure more than a few of my classmates laughed at my simple unstylish clothes throughout my life, but I didn’t care.  Even today, I wear plain old blue jeans and a t-shirt every chance I get.  I hate carrying a purse.  I’d rather use a men’s wallet or just throw my license and some cash in my pocket.  If I can’t go barefoot, then tennis shoes will do.   I don’t do heels – EVER.  (I wore ballet slippers down the aisle when we got married.)

I never do my hair; I never wear make-up.  I just wake up and rip a comb through my hair to get the snarls out and that is it.  A true tomboy, through and through.

Week #23 – Books. What was your favorite book, or who was your favorite author from your childhood? What do you like to read now? Books or other formats?

My Bookshelf

Hands down, there is no question what my answer is to this one.  My favorite author was Beverly Cleary!  From Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy, Ramona and her big sister Beezus, and Ralph the Mouse and his Motorcycle my entire childhood was wrapped up in her books.  One of my favorite parts in a book to do this day are when little Ramona starts kindergarten.  She can’t find a seat in class, and her teacher tells her to “Sit here for the present.”  She sat there all day and still never got a present!  I loved Ralph’s adventures on the motorcycle.  They were filled with mystery and magic in the simplest of places, all due to the tiny size of little Ralph.

Another book that struck a major chord with me is The 79 Squares by Malcolm J. Bosse.  I picked it up at the library for a mandatory book report (groan) but I ended up liking it quite a lot.  It’s about a troubled boy who got involved with the wrong crowd of friends.  To the surprise of his juvenile probation officer, 14-year old Eric ends up befriending a cranky old neighbor who talks him into spending his time observing the world in the back yard garden – one square foot at a time.  The concept of starting at one square foot of earth every day for an entire summer was (and is) fascinating to me.

My Grandma Cole gave me a book called Daphne’s Book by Mary Downing Hahn when I was about 9 or 10 years old.  She said she purchased it because the lead character’s name was Jessica.  I read the book, and I loved it!  It’s about Jessica’s horror in realizing she is paired with the class freak for a very important project.  The story goes through their journey together during the project, and they become great friends in the process.  It’s a beautiful story about assumptions, discrimination, and overcoming misconceptions about people.

I loved these books so much as a child that I bought a few of them used as an adult, just so I would have them available.  After middle school, I pretty much stopped reading for fun until Harry Potter came out, with the exception of poetry (mostly by Theodore Roethke).  I’ve read the HP series at least four times.  I followed that up with Twilight Saga, reading it once, mostly so I could understand the pop culture references to it.

Reading is tough for me.  I don’t retain information when I read it, so by the time I get to page 21 I forgot what happened on page 18 and everything before it.  I’m an audible and tactile learner.  If I hear it, I remember it – no problem!  I think that’s why I’m a poor test-taker.  Reading was always frustrating for me because it meant I was going to be tested on it, which made me anxious.  I never grew out of that.

Today I read blogs and online articles, but you won’t ever see me with a book in my hands except on extremely rare occasions.  I read magazines sometimes, like Photoshop Creative and Consumer Reports.

Week #22 – New Year’s Memories: Did your family have any New Year’s traditions? How was the New Year celebrated during your childhood? Have you kept these traditions in the present day?

Ringing in the New Year

My best guess is that the photo here was taken on New Years Eve in 1980, while my sister Kathleen and I were ringing in 1981.  To give a little historical context, this was three months before President Ronald Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt.

I don’t remember celebrating New Years Eve too much while we were growing up in Saginaw.  If I didn’t have this picture to reference, I don’t think I could have said that we celebrated it at all.  New Years was definitely downplayed compared to the other holidays I preferred, such as Christmas, Halloween, Easter and my birthday.

Celebrating Y2k in Boston

The only memorable New Years Eve in my life so far has been December 31, 1999.  Ringing in the Year 2000 with the Y2k scare was fascinating to experience.  I had just graduated from college in May 1999 and moved to Burlington, Massachusetts.  I was working for a company named GENUiTY, a full service web hosting provider that eventually went bankrupt and was bought out by Level 3 Communications.  I was standing in the Network Operations Center (NOC) at their corporate headquarters in Burlington when the clock struck midnight, waiting with baited breath in the midst of 100 coworkers, anxiously awaiting the rollover to see if our computer systems were going to crash and burn like so many people predicted.  We had one minor issue with our Helpdesk ticketing system called Vantive, which would not allow us to open new tickets after midnight.  The error kept saying we were trying to open a ticket with a date of more than 90 days from today.  We called the software company, they fixed the bug within an hour and we went on with our lives.

I think New Years Eve 1999 might just remain the most exciting non-event in my life.  These days, Andrew and I typically reserve New Years Eve to upgrade our computers, back up our files and run Windows Updates.  We don’t drink alcohol and are not party people.  We celebrate like geeks, and that’s how we roll.