___ Years Ago I......

I stole this off Sandy's blog, I am in a bit of a homesick/memories mood, so this should be fitting!!!

25 years ago I... was three months in my momma's belly. i don't remember much of this time, but it was pretty cozy, and I didn't have many things to worry about.

20 years ago I... was 4 years old. I had a baby sister, and I think another one on the way. I do remember when emily was born, me and naomi and my dad sat outside on the grass outside of the hospital and made daisy chains. that's pretty much all I remember. oh, and i had a bowl cut.

15 years ago I... was 9 years old. At this point, we had moved from Scotland to England. Hmmm... I now had a really cute blonde baby brother too, I wore a uniform to school, my best friend was also named Gemma, I used to have sleepovers at her house, and her sister would put make up on us and we would have dance parties. Then in the morning, she would give us makeup black eyes and I would go home and try to convince my mum it was real. I had to go to orchestra practice for violin every saturday morning, and I would come home and watch Top of the Pops. I had a really bad english accent.

10 years ago I... was 14. Grade 9??? Hmmm.... well, I wasn't one of the cool kids, that's for sure. Although I probably did get glasses and grow my bangs out around this time. Which my mum did tell me would make me look like a skinned rat, but I think it turned out pretty well. I was on the basketball team, most likely the worst player on the worst team, but it was fun. People who know me now, think this is very humorous. Especially my husband. I was super involved in church, camp and youth group, and made my absolute dearest friends during these years. Sarah, Cass, Dor, Jack, Saskia, Sandra, Susan, Natalie, all those girls. Even now, I feel I am more myself and at home with these people than with anyone else. I miss you all!! (The holidays got me a little homesick!)

5 years ago I... was 19. Umm, I think at this point I was back in CB, living in Margaree with Ran and Shelley. I'd spent a great year working at a youth hostel in Amsterdam, was planning on university, but about a week before, I ditched those plans, because I felt God calling me to work with the youth at my church. So a place to live and a job dropped into my lap, and I moved to the valley. Such a great year, getting to know R & S, charles and monica, hugh and tracey and all their beautiful kids, who I love SO much! the best kids in the whole world come from margaree! this was a great time of learning from me, and i had some awesome times running the youth group. I was disorganized, but I gained so much from having people there for me when I was that age, that it was great to be involved again. shelley and melissa, you were hilarious, it was great getting to know Dor better then too. And I had my first car, 1986 Loretta the Jetta. Broke and left me stranded several times, I had to crank the alternator up with a crow bar anytime I went up a hill, and eventually had to wire it in with wire from a jiffy pop bag of popcorn. Good times, good times.

3 years ago I... was 21, in my second year of university at MTA, sackville, nb. I LOVED my time at university. Got to be roommates with the Jackster, had hilarious times, trying to do simple ratios in the phone booth under the stairs, almost peeing myself, keeping the quote board filled, making funny videos. I miss you like crazy, jack!! I made so many new and awesome friends there. My residence was only about 30 people, and a bunch of us are still great friends. sally, kris, janer, lanners, jac, beaver, tonya, joe (my future hubby), brad, tom, neil, liz, liz 2, fahreen, christine, marley, vanessa, and many significant others later on. Wow, I was so blessed to make so many great friends. I switched from BSc to a BA, learned so much in and out of my classes, was a residence monitor, had a role in my first real musical, my grades weren't so hot, but the experience was worth the thousands of dollars, hahaha!!!

1 year ago I... wow. this was a big one. I worked at CBBC as program director for the summer, it was so good to be back, so blessed. My fiance Joe came for a visit for a couple of days and stayed for 5 weeks as my 'assistant'! We had been in residence together and friends for 3 years before that, so cool. we had the most beautiful, fun wedding day outside, in Ran and Shelley's field, my cousins came from Scotland, we had a great celidih, the best day ever, surrounded by family and friends, marrying the man I love so much. We moved into an apartment with our two kitties, i finished university and graduated, BA major international relations, minor biology. The same day I graduated, I became a Canadian Citizen. worked in halifax for a few months, loved my job, then we moved to MAINE!!!! oh yeah, we moved eight times in a little over a year. So ready to settle down for a bit!

So far this year I... mostly just worked. All day, every day, except for every second weekend. Getting to know our three 'kids' (14, 16 and 17), a lot of frustrations and challenges, but learning a lot. We did join a gym, and so far we are still excited about getting off our lazy arses and into some resemblance of physical fitness. Spending lots of time with Joe!

Yesterday I... had the weekend off, and we had to stay in a motel. It had a king-sized bed, but we had to check out by 11am. Joe and I read some of Brennan Manning's 'Abba's Child' together, then wandered Portland's mall and stores for the entire day, 'cause it was bad weather, and we had nowhere to go. Went out to eat at TGI Fridays, which was a disappointment (so far Applebee's wins hands down), and wasted the day away until our return to work at 9pm. A pretty frustrating day all-in-all. We miss our friends!

Today I... got up at 9, gave meds to all our kids, tried to stop them arguing and making bad decisions and teach them how to get along with people and learn daily living skills. Bad weather again, so we watched movies. Martin Luther King day, so a holiday here anyway. Actually pretty relaxing, compared to last week, which was quite a challenge! after they went to bed, did some blog stalking, got a little homesick and watched some of the golden globe awards.

Tomorrow I will... get up, get the kids off to school, go grocery shopping, have a couple hours to go to the gym, have lunch and a shower, and then pick them all up from school and direct their every move until bedtime. then probably watch a bit of tv and go to bed early.

In the next year I will... work a lot, hopefully pay off a lot of student loans, probably buy too many useless things, learn a lot, hopefully make a positive impact on these kids, go to naomi's wedding, go on our honeymoon finally, camp and hike a lot in the summer, enjoy being with joe, make dreams and plans for the future, hopefully find a church and some good friends here.

In the next minute I will... check in with the golden globes, take a shower and hop into bed. 'night.