A blogger friend did a post like this recently, and I just thought it was the best. She received a writing prompt that asked her to make a list of stories that shape her universe. So, in no particular order, here are some of mine:
1. The time I wrote a letter that put New Kids on the Block on hold for roughly twenty years.
2. My family moved to Italy when I was 9 and my parents instituted a rule about food: You have to try it even if you don't know what it is. After you've tried it, you can ask what it is to either be sure to be able to have it again, or to never eat it again. But you'll only know which list to put it on after you've tried it.
3. My family moved to Japan when I was 14 and continued on with packing up a small ice chest and going driving to see what we could see when we had a weekend day without any plans.
4. My grandparents drank coffee all day every day. My grandmother always told me that on cold days, she drank coffee to warm up and on hot days, she drank coffee to turn her air conditioner on.
5. I've had two friendships in my life come to an abrupt but fairly thorough end. One made me sad because I suddenly realized he had brought absolutely nothing positive into my life despite being my best friend for a few years. And the other made me sad because we actually were fantastic friends and towards the end of our friendship when we had grown too far apart to be able to connect properly anymore, she profoundly hurt my feelings.
6. I expected to deliver S through a C-section because he was laying transverse for so long. When it came time to deliver (which could be its own separate story), it turned out he had gone head down. My instinct was to have the C-section immediately anyway and just have him on the outside. But I agreed to be induced and try for a vaginal delivery, and ultimately had a C-section in the end anyway.
7. The time I had to tell my boss I was pregnant because I didn't make it to the bathroom in time when I bout of morning sickness overtook me and I threw up all over my own shirt. I still have the t-shirt she gave me so I could finish my shift.
8. K and I got to go to a reception honoring both his uncle and our mayor's mother. When we walked in the door, I saw my Congressman and walked right up to him and shook his hand. Such a fantastic moment of starting to find myself again in the midst of mothering two small boys.
9. I had the chance to take the entrance exam to nursing school for free, but only if I took it two days after they told me I could. I called the day before to ask if I could reschedule because I didn't feel as though I was prepared enough to pass. The person on the phone convinced me to just try because it was free, after all. I was the first person who finished, and I cleared the minimum score with quite a large margin.
10. K asked me for my phone number. I was working and he came by on his day off. He told me he had thought of something he wanted to tell me the previous day but realized he didn't have my number. But if I gave it to him, we could avoid it happening again.
11. A's middle name comes from my great-grandfather, who died the summer before he was born. I'm so glad that we chose to name him after my great-grandfather who would have been tickled pink about it. But I wish a little bit that we had used his middle name because then A and I would have the same middle initial the way S and K do.
12. My dad and I took my astronomy text book and drove up as high as we could and stood in the freezing mountain air and found as many constellations as we could find. I was also startled by how many satellites I could easily spot.
13. That afternoon I knew our family was complete. It involved baby clothes and a walk down the hallway to ask K how he felt about just having it be the four of us. Him, me, and two boys.
14. The day during third quarter clinical when I was assigned to observe prenatal sonograms.
15. The first time we went to City Church. Various members of the staff had invited K several times over the years as they stopped in his Starbucks for caffeine and when we decided to go, there were a few people who saw us and were genuinely happy we were there.
16. One of my friends set up a job interview for me at a medical diagnostics office for me and I learned what nurses actually do. Hated the job, love that it got me more secretary experience and medical terminology which many years later meant another friend hiring me at a hospital. Then I went to nursing school. These are all very separate events spread out over at least a decade.
17. I met/really connected with one of the most fantastic friends in my life through Twitter, even though it would have made more sense that we met and connected through church events.
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