Decades Meme
2011
Still living on the outskirts of Ann Arbor with my husband and his daughter, and I am 36. Kayla is now 16, and looking seriously at colleges and her future career path. At work, I'm in the midst of promotions, myself and people under me, and reorganization. It's the first real movement in my dayjob career in 5 years. However, in December 2009 I sold a novel, and have been waiting (and working) on it since then--my book comes out in September of this year. My mom has moved to Michigan (via the circuitous route of Montana then Seattle, Providence, San Francisco and LA). She's about 3 hours away now, which is the closest we've lived to each other since 1993.
2001
Have moved to the outskirts of Ann Arbor with my boyfriend and his daughter. Kayla is in first grade, and we chose this small town turned bedroom community because of the excellent schools and the location. We almost moved another half hour down the highway for a cheaper house, but my boyfriend's father advised us that moving closer to work was worth a slightly more expensive house. (He turned out to be right.) I'm working at the University and have been since 1995. I have started taking classes again after a financial snafu forced me out of college in... 1995. I got promoted quickly to a pretty high level that I will not advance beyond for ten years.
1991
Living with my mother in Durham, North Carolina; attending the new high school, and generally being an overworked-by-self 17-year-old. Choices, man, choices. My sense of youthful immortality wasn't manifested in the "do dangerous things" vein, but more in the "I can do EVERYTHING!" vein. Being run-down via overscheduling became a prominent theme of my life for some time. (I think this choice was a reaction to living a relatively quiet and secluded childhood; as soon as I obtained any degree of control over my own whereabouts and activities, I went crazy.) I spent a fair amount of time in those days hanging with my best friend, Chaitra, but we were drifting socially; I spent a lot of time with a wider social network that I felt less close to. I was co-editor of the school lit mag that year, and wrote and costumed and stage managed and acted for local children's theater, and babysat a LOT (three school evenings a week from 5-10PMish), and was taking AP classes, and, and, and.
1981
Living with my mother in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. I was six. It was the first time we'd lived more than an hour away from my dad (my parents had been divorced for 2 years) or my grandparents. I was incredibly lonely, being so far from my bevy of adoring cousins and aunts and uncles; realizing that I only had my peers to socialize with regularly was sort of a nightmare. We were living in family housing at Lake Superior State, while my mom finished her bachelor's in nursing. I did enjoy the random collegiate adults Mom associated with. One of them held fondue parties and owned an Afghan dog. I am partial to fondue and Afghans to this day. I went with Mom to night classes on occasion, and began my love affair with college campuses, I think. It was my first time living in a college town, but I've never left college towns since, not really.
Still living on the outskirts of Ann Arbor with my husband and his daughter, and I am 36. Kayla is now 16, and looking seriously at colleges and her future career path. At work, I'm in the midst of promotions, myself and people under me, and reorganization. It's the first real movement in my dayjob career in 5 years. However, in December 2009 I sold a novel, and have been waiting (and working) on it since then--my book comes out in September of this year. My mom has moved to Michigan (via the circuitous route of Montana then Seattle, Providence, San Francisco and LA). She's about 3 hours away now, which is the closest we've lived to each other since 1993.
2001
Have moved to the outskirts of Ann Arbor with my boyfriend and his daughter. Kayla is in first grade, and we chose this small town turned bedroom community because of the excellent schools and the location. We almost moved another half hour down the highway for a cheaper house, but my boyfriend's father advised us that moving closer to work was worth a slightly more expensive house. (He turned out to be right.) I'm working at the University and have been since 1995. I have started taking classes again after a financial snafu forced me out of college in... 1995. I got promoted quickly to a pretty high level that I will not advance beyond for ten years.
1991
Living with my mother in Durham, North Carolina; attending the new high school, and generally being an overworked-by-self 17-year-old. Choices, man, choices. My sense of youthful immortality wasn't manifested in the "do dangerous things" vein, but more in the "I can do EVERYTHING!" vein. Being run-down via overscheduling became a prominent theme of my life for some time. (I think this choice was a reaction to living a relatively quiet and secluded childhood; as soon as I obtained any degree of control over my own whereabouts and activities, I went crazy.) I spent a fair amount of time in those days hanging with my best friend, Chaitra, but we were drifting socially; I spent a lot of time with a wider social network that I felt less close to. I was co-editor of the school lit mag that year, and wrote and costumed and stage managed and acted for local children's theater, and babysat a LOT (three school evenings a week from 5-10PMish), and was taking AP classes, and, and, and.
1981
Living with my mother in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. I was six. It was the first time we'd lived more than an hour away from my dad (my parents had been divorced for 2 years) or my grandparents. I was incredibly lonely, being so far from my bevy of adoring cousins and aunts and uncles; realizing that I only had my peers to socialize with regularly was sort of a nightmare. We were living in family housing at Lake Superior State, while my mom finished her bachelor's in nursing. I did enjoy the random collegiate adults Mom associated with. One of them held fondue parties and owned an Afghan dog. I am partial to fondue and Afghans to this day. I went with Mom to night classes on occasion, and began my love affair with college campuses, I think. It was my first time living in a college town, but I've never left college towns since, not really.