My life in thirty-five

In response to a suggested topic from The Daily Post, here is one sentence about my life for every year that I’ve been alive. It actually took longer than I expected, but was totally rewarding – try it!

Can you tell I was born in the seventies?!

1976: I am born in November and quickly become very fat but remain rather bald for longer than my mother would have liked.

1977: At six months old my parents take me to Iran to show me off to the extended family; I’m still hoping to go back for a second visit.

1978: I really don’t remember being two, though I wish I could.

1979: I don’t remember being three either, but apparently I was a quiet and observant toddler.

Baby sister!

1980: I have my first lucid dream, in which I calmly inform Sylvester the cat to stop chasing me because “this is my dream and I say so!”

1981: Even though kindergarten is technically only half-a-day, I stay all day, every day (I love it, and the teacher loves me).

1982: I wildly decorate my baby sister’s due date on my wall calendar; she arrives two weeks late.

1983: We move from a small 18th floor apartment downtown to a perfect little house near the beach (in Toronto).

Never without my books...

1984: I wear my hair up in a high side-ponytail and eat peanut butter sandwiches for lunch almost everyday.

1985: My best friend Sarah and I invent a secret language that is actually just English, but we speak it so quickly that no one else can understand.

1986: My buddy Michael gives me a ring as a token of our friendship; my mom makes me give it back.

1987: At our grade six ‘graduation’ my friends and I sing “That’s what friends are for” and promise each other that we will always stay in touch.

1988: At age 12, my family moves from Toronto to Montreal, creating a 600km divide between my childhood and my adolescence.

Montreal (as seen from the old port)

1989: As the new girl, I am unwittingly voted into the class council as pastoral representative – a position that I gradually transform into morning poetry reader and Amnesty International advocate.

Teenage tree-hugger

1990: Teen angst rears its ugly head and my journal pages quickly fill with melodramatic ramblings.

1991: Adolescence marches on.

1992: And on.

1993: Finally graduated from my private all-girls high school and after four years in the same kilt, was utterly unable to even look at the colour blue.

1994: First real boyfriend…

Freedom!

1995: Dancing all night is a way of life.

1996: Developed deep friendships.

1997: Dropped out of university, quit my job, and moved to the Rockies with a boy I had known for only a few weeks, but knew that I had known forever.

1998: Came back pregnant and unmarried, much to my parents’ chagrin ;)

1999: My first daughter is born, au naturel, while a fantastic blizzard blankets the city.

Mama Love

2000: Started wearing blue again.

2001: Went to school, worked two jobs, raised my girl, had lots of stress and lots of fun.

2002: Continued to be an honours student on most days, beer-slinger on some nights, and mom all the time.

2003: After breaking up and making up a million times, realized that some people just aren’t good for each other.

Friday night on the job

2004: Finished my undergrad in psychology and philosophy, and only eight years after I had begun it.

2005: Got a real job.

2006: Fell in love again.

2007: Started grad school.

2008: Stopped bartending/waitressing after almost ten years.

2009: Birth of my second daughter, under a perfect crescent moon and in such a hurry that she shoots past the doctor’s hands and is caught by the nurse.

2010: Life is messy, beautiful, funny, chaotic, painful and glorious.

2011: I start this blog.

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