Tripping Down Memory Lane; A Long and Winding Road

Me. I must be two or three here. My fashion sense is a wee bit more developed now, but I'd still carry that purse in a heartbeat. Also? Loving the moon boots. Very fancy.

A year or so later. I'm pretty sure this is in Hawaii. Fancy bangs I'm sporting there.

Second grade. I'm the little league kiddo with the massive facial wound. Totally chic'. Also? That hat is a complete winner; a home run.

Third grade. My bestest friend ever, Jodie Henry. We were stuck together like glue from second grade through the fourth, despite her moving to Sunriver and me moving to Crane at the beginning of the year. Also, she was in the TAG program starting third grade. Her smarts made me insanely jealous. But I understand why I didn't make it in. I mean really; Look at those bangs across the front 3/4ths of my head. Not a big sign of intelligence.


I'm ten or so here. We had recently moved in to our house in Crane, Oregon. This is in the hills behind the house, that was our dog Cinnamon. A Cockapoo who was shortly after attacked and killed by our step fathers Great Pyrenees because she got too close to his food bowl. Safe family dog, that one.


Sophomore year in high school. JV cheer leading, I was the head cheerleader. There were two of us. Not quite the accomplishment it sounds like, huh?


Junior year. Cross country. Man, what a stupid idea that was. Granted, I was in the best shape of my life because of it but ohmygawd. I HATE running. HATE. So what the hell was I thinking of to sign up to regularly run 3.1 miles?
Senior year. Me goofing off with my friends. I'm the sloppy looking one on the left. I have to say though, I'm pretty proud of how self confident I was then. Not afraid to wear what I felt comfy in, even if it wasn't attractive. Those three girls and the one taking the picture were the only girls in my class, I spent fourth grade on through graduation with the same little pile of girls. I remember them fondly, but I spent the better part of last night reading through my 7th,8th and 9th grade journal and now realize that we really weren't very good friends, there just weren't any other options in our teeny tiny town. Sweet.

Senior year high school prom. First pic is me with my darling husband while he was exploring his full-head-of-hair/oddly-dyed-goatee period. This beats the crap out of the pic from the year previous when he had a half-and-half do' of shocking orange and white up top, and no goatee. Second pic is of me and my wee little brother, the freshman. Whoa nelly, does he look young! Also? I would kill to fit in that dress again.

I was 20 here. That is me in my wedding dress. I purchased it, then ended up storing it for more then a year as our wedding date got pushed back. Imagine the panic when, a year later, I try it on a short 4 weeks before the wedding and it's TIGHT. Am very much proud of how fast I lost those few pounds. Went from too tight to maybe a little bit loose in 4 weeks. If only I still had that self control..........

Just over a year later, May 2001. This is the day after we got married in Vegas. Again, would kill for that figure. Isn't it sweet how you don't appreciate what you have till it's gone? Those pants were a size three. THREE. It would take three pair of those same said pants to cover our current love-handle-butt-thigh body.

OK now I'm depressed.