I Make Lists.

It's true. I find myself making lists all the time, and I have drawers full of notebooks where I keep them.  I don't make to-do lists, and when I do I never follow them.  I make lists of, for example, the songs I like that I want to put on a playlist, the temples I've been to, the places I'd like to go someday, and I really like making grocery lists.  I've made this following list a few times, and I'm going to put it in my blog because it's been on my mind a lot lately...

because I've also been packing boxes.  Just a few a day, since when I asked myself if it would be easier to pack at nine months pregnant or with a newborn and a toddler I couldn't come to any definitive answer I decided I better start.  That, and I'm starting to get the itch again.  The feeling where I know I'm leaving, and I know where I'm going, and I get anxious if I'm not actively making myself ready for it.  Well, with that long introduction, here is my list:

Places I've lived, and a bit of nostalgia as well:
Fairport, NY (Camden Ct) - was born
Fairport, NY (Old Post) - began elementary school
Grand Blanc, MI - learned to ride a bike
Cincinatti, OH - "learned" to speak Portuguese
Alphaville, Sao Paulo, Brasil - actually learned to speak Portuguese, and went through the hardest year of my life, to date (fifth grade)
Morumbi, Sao Paulo, Brasil - began to recover from fifth grade, and began the metamorphosis into who I am now, with help from friends (Christen, Daniella, HaYoon, Erika, Ivana)
Muncie, IN - met the people that would have a huge influence on the continuing metamorphosis (Hannah, Alison, Heather)
West Lafayette, IN (Duhme Hall)- began college, met a handful of other people that would have a huge impact on this long drawn out process of becoming "me"... (Stacy, Kristy, Jackie, Nicole, Alisha - among others)
West Lafayette, IN (the TH) - this was pretty much just a big old good time
Bar Harbor, MN - considering the short months we lived here, it had a pretty big impact on me, not even sure what to say about it.  GREAT summer  (to which I actually returned to the TH, so I won't write that one twice.)
West Lafayette, IN (5th St) - student teaching, got married, hypothyroidism, that's what I'll always remember from that funky little place
Keokuk, IA - endured the hottest, most humid summer of my life, pregnant, working at a Bed and Breakfast.
Homeless - we spent three weeks homeless, although it wasn't as bad as it sounds, we were taken in by a lovely couple we knew from church and lived in their basement until we left for
Doorn, Netherlands - the place that ruined me for American apples and strawberry jam.  AND I'm pretty sure this was the influencing factor in my attitude towards labor and delivery.  Dutch women are very relaxed about it and the majority have their babies at home with a midwife.  My friend who helped  me find a midwife for our time there didn't really even understand when I asked her how to get an ob/gyn.  Now, I do plan on having all my babies at the hospital, but honestly that has a lot more to do with the mess than wanting to be hooked up to needles and wires.
West Lafayette, IN (52 W) - stepped into the role of mother, at this point still pretty blissfully naive of what that meant
West Lafayette, IN (Easton Ln) - although we only lived here for a few months, I really liked it there. It was quiet, and I had a great neighbor
Peoria, IL - the place where for the first time in my life I was already a wife and mother when people met me, and it made me feel more like that's who I really was, rather than just a role I had stepped into.  I also really like it here, and am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that in six weeks or so I will be living in
Lincoln, NE - we'll just have to see

I don't usually list all of the individual West Lafayette places, but I did here because of the different things that happened in each.

Comments

  1. Mimi CollettJanuary 13, 2010 at 3:06 PM

    Heeey! If you mentioned the nostalgia part on the phone, I missed it. :) I loved your list! And the nostalgia! Although. Haha. I love that it was your friends that helped with your metamorphosis. As in, without them and only help from me, you would have stayed the same old same old. Probably. I think I was definitely an "enabler" for you during the shy days. I did embrace your changes though! It is really interesting the read the places where I was with you, because we lived in such similar circumstances and yet had such different experiences. Thank you for sharing your list! Any word yet on how you will be moving?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2010 at 3:41 PM

    I was actually thinking about what a large role you've played in my life and that I should have mentioned that, but I've known you my whole life, so I would have had to write that I met you in Fairport or something... when you were born!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alisha ErinJanuary 13, 2010 at 4:21 PM

    which duplex did you live in at easton lane? i had no idea you ever lived here--that's where jeff and i are right now.
    and i seriously sympathize with this list and think i will be making one soon myself. it looks like we'll be moving within the month ourselves.

    ReplyDelete

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