*This post was inspired by my sister-in-law and her friend...both excellent writers. I enjoyed reading them so much, I decided to try my own. Where does your map lead?
Start as the lovechild of two young dreamers. Receive a name no one can pronounce or spell. Listen to fairy tales, lullabies and Watergate. Develop a great love for literature and music and a sour taste for politics. Live in a trailer court, a starter home and a place big enough to house the six other lovechildren who quickly become part of your life.
Watch Sesame Street and The Brady Bunch. Listen to John Denver, the Bee Gees and Mozart. Love elementary school. Write stories for little kids. Produce mini-plays and choreograph dance festivals. Read morning, noon and night. Enjoy being smart, cheerful and helpful. Wear clogs and a big comb in the back pocket of your jeans.
Break your arm playing kickball. Sprain your wrist crashing a bike down the "big hill". Swim at the Canyon Racquet Club. Get your first perm and the chicken pox on the same day. Go to Disneyland. Hear every day that you are smart, responsible, beautiful and talented. Believe it. Go to church every Sunday. Know your prayers are heard.
Wear corduroy knickers for your first day of middle school. Be taller than all the boys, for the first and last time in your life. Hate your straight hair and curly body. Figure out that it is now more important to be pretty than smart. Waste a lot of time trying to be more pretty and less smart. Fail algebra.
Spend a year in England. Receive your first real kiss from the-boy-next-door-with-a-unibrow. Decide boys and kissing are overrated. Return stateside and babysit a lot. Fail your driving test five times. Make a lot of friends, but never be "popular." Sing a solo for the entire school. Get good grades and enjoy them.
Head to BYU. Get homesick for those annoying little brothers and sisters. Make great friends. Declare a major. Meet a cute guy who is definitely NOT your type. Kiss him before Christmas break. Change your mind about boys and kissing. Get married eight months later. Live in a basement apartment with a blue shower.
Become a schoolteacher at age 22. Give spelling tests. Write lesson plans. Decorate bulletin boards. Love elementary school even more the second time around. Buy a little yellow house. Plant flowers. Make curtains. Set aside room for a nursery.
Wait and wait. Go to lots of baby showers. Cry. See lots of doctors. Cry. Take lots of painful tests. Cry. Try lots of fertility drugs. Cry.
Make a leap-of-faith move crosscountry. Start over. Build a big house. Plant flowers. Make curtains. Submit adoption papers. Pray for a miracle. Receive four tiny miracles, in rapid succession.
Find yourself in the whirlwind of mom-hood. Laugh a lot. Pray a lot. Realize you were a much better parent before you had children. Kiss that cute guy you married. Sweep the kitchen floor. Find two Fritos on the couch. Eat them. Smile. Write a blog. You're here...
10 comments:
That was delightful! I loved it. I may have to steal the idea at some point in the future. Thanks!
Dad loved it! I love it! You are our lovechild come true.
you are so creative! i loved your little gab map. you sang a solo?! i had no idea. i remember your crazy years in provo, that scary shower and helping you with your classrooms.
i wanted to be you. i am delighted so many of your dreams came true!
and the fritos in the couch.. i am missing you tons.
I absolutely loved this post, Gabi! I don't know why it's so funny to realize that some of my first memories are of you. I remember doing acrobatics off your shoulders, I remember peeking (I should have been asleep) to watch Loveboat. Idolizing you in the roadshow, in your yellow VW, in an apartment at BYU, in your own cute little house with your dreamy husband. . .I've been trying to catch up with you forever. I saw you go through so much with invitro and adoption. . .And now here we are. . .mothers of young children. I still don't feel completely caught up with you, since you are WONDERWOMAN!
cute cute cute! loved it. so much fun to hear all about you.
Hi Gab,
I'm Christie's friend...loved this map to you. I don't know you but I feel like I could find you if I followed it (and I'm right there with you on Sesame Street, the Brady Bunch, John Denver, the Love Boat, and BYU) :)
I am so glad you did this! Yours was just beautiful (like you) and it was fun to follow you through the times before I knew you. You are a great writer and I loved reading this.
I love the Fritos on the couch! That's the best. I feel for you on the prenancy thing. I had a much easier 1.5 years of trying. I can't imagine who difficult it is when it's much longer or never happens. Is that photo of the brick house yours? It is beautiful. Looks perfect for the east coast too.
Great map of you! It's great to get to know you a little better.
What a great way to start a conversation! I went ahead with one of my own too. Thanks for the inspiration!
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