Every Wednesday night for the past seven years has been ladies’ night with a big group of girlfriends of mine. Over the years I’ve gone in spurts, and haven’t gone more than a couple of times since Palmer was born. We usually chat, eat, drink wine, laugh a lot. Tonight’s theme was “Put the FUN back in funeral.” Sounds like a bit of a downer, but it really wasn’t. We spent the evening talking specifics about what we wanted done with our bodies and the type of funeral services we preferred.
So it got me to thinking that I need to talk to you about me. I know this blog is supposed to be all about you, but I want you to know about me in case I’m not always around. And who best to tell you than me.
So I guess I’ll start at the beginning…. I was born on a snowy Monday morning (Jan. 9, 1978) in Smithville, Mo., a town just a few miles north from where I grew up. I consider my birthday to be one of the coolest dates ever because I was born on 1-9-78 and if you scrunch all the numbers together it makes the year I was born – 1978. This is really not important, but I always thought it was cool.
I could not have dreamed of better parents. They gave me everything I ever needed and most of what I wanted. When I was younger I used to think they were boring. They rarely went out with their friends and the only things they ever did were centered around my brother and me. As I grew up I came to realize that they sacrificed their “coolness” for our happiness.
I have one brother (Uncle Derek) who is six years older than me. We were never close, but I have always looked up to him. Our age difference is the primary reason your daddy and I wanted to have our children close together in age. We wanted you to have a close relationship and similar experiences. I always thought it must have been tough for my brother to relate to me when he was a 17-year-old high school jock who was driving and dating, while I was an awkward fifth grade girl who spent much of her free time playing with Cabbage Patch Dolls.
I was a very athletic child and at different points in my first 18 years I competed in gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, softball, track, swimming, diving and tennis. I competed in gymnastics for several years and even won regional all-around when I was ten. I won numerous trophies in swimming and diving, was a starting member of the #1 ranked volleyball team in the state my senior year of high school, and my AAU basketball team went to nationals the summer after graduation. In high school I earned 11 letters (7 athletic, 4 choir) and was Salutatorian of my high school’s 75th graduating class. I got one “B” in high school in my sophomore English Lit class, which is significant because I am incapable of abstract thinking. To this day I can’t comprehend books or movies that require such brain power.
I went to college at Truman State University where I graduated with a degree in Communication Science (a cross between journalism and psychology). I didn’t enjoy college as much as most, which prompted me to formulate a theory that people either enjoy high school or college, but not both. I was a high school fan, your daddy preferred college. I met your daddy in Spanish class when I was a junior (he was in his second senior year). I like to think he had me at “hola.”
We knew about a month after we started dating that we would get married. Your daddy proposed by hiding my engagement ring in the prize of a Cracker Jack box. It wasn’t until he got down on his knee that I realized it was an actual ring and not a mass produced prize (again with the black-and-white thinking). We graduated college in May 2000, moved to Austin two weeks later and returned to Kansas City for our wedding in September.
Your daddy got a job at a graphic design firm and I worked in public relations. We started our photography company a year later when a friend, who knew that we were skilled photographers, asked us to shoot her wedding. From there we’ve grown the company to where it is today, which we think is pretty awesome.
So there’s the biographical stuff. But more important is the stuff that’s harder to put down on paper. I guess the sub-head for this section could be
How I want you to remember me
I think, more than anything, I want to be remembered for having a big heart. I’m not the smartest, prettiest, wittiest person. I’m not the best at anything in the world (no Olympic medals for me), but I feel like I’ve been endowed with the ability to feel empathy for just about anyone (except maybe bugs. I really don’t like bugs.). I’m pretty sensitive to other people’s situations, and I’ve had to learn to distance myself from other’s hardships so I’m not a frustrated, blubbering mess all the time.
I’m also an excellent mom. The two of you and your father mean absolutely everything to me. I feel like I’ve been waiting all my life for this experience. I try to come up with fun and educational experiences for you. We recently baked cookies, although since I don’t really bake we spooned pre-made cookie dough out of a plastic tub. We color and paint and play with Play-Doh a lot. I’ve recently fallen in love with stickers because there is much less clean up.
I’m not a very exciting person. I’m pretty introverted and enjoy being at home with my family above everything else. Someday you may, like I once did, consider your mom to be boring. But that’s okay with me. You and your daddy are what are important to me. Remember that.
