High school.
The years you long to be different from everybody else - but not too different. You want to be cool, but make it look effortless.
Needless to say I was appalled when she walked straight up to me in the middle of the crowded hall and asks (which sounded to be at the top of her lungs) “are your eyes real?”
Ummm… yes, my eyes are real. The color – not so much… I had been wearing contacts for nearly 3 years and I thought the new Enhancer contact lenses were great! I choose green and thought they looked pretty natural - that is until the day she called me out in front of everyone!
Fast forward a bit and come to our senior year of high school. It was only the first day, but I was all over the place chatting with friends, some whom I had not seen since school ended the year prior.
In all my social glee, I accidently bump someone; my first reaction was to say, “I’m so sorry!” As I turn around, I see that she was the one I had accidently bumped into. Apparently my apology meant nothing since she rolled her eyes so far back that I imagined what my mother would tell me as a child, “If you keep doing that, you’ll get stuck that way forever”
No such luck, her eyes resurfaced and in an exaggerated motion she turned her back to me.
Who does she think she is? To top it all off, I had almost every class with her!
Ironically the only class I didn’t have with her was 5th period Drama, ha! To me that's all she seemed to be! The day was finally ending, I was excited to have Play Production for my next period, which was also in the auditorium. As I sat there watching everyone walk in one by one, I was so glad to see Nathan. This was going to be so much fun! As I walk over I notice someone else heading straight over to him… It was Tabitha! What was she doing going over to sit with my friend?
The introduction is a blur, but we’ve been friends for over 15 years!
Of course it was only natural that we would move out together after high school. We moved to a two-bedroom apartment, had a crazy landlord and soon found out that our apartment was hunted. Nothing we couldn’t handle, I mean, Tabitha had the car and I had the baby. We were set.
Baby? Yes, I was about 8 months pregnant with my son. Tabitha had a car, but no license. We both worked full time, but didn’t make a lot of money (although if you would have asked us then, we thought we “made good money”). We had it all figured out at the tender ages of 18 and 19.
Tabitha was there the day I delivered my son. She stood in the room along side my mother and sisters. My life changed forever that day. Looking at my son for the first time was indescribable. Wow…I was a mother.
I was 18 years old and I was a mother.
As years went by, I found myself a single mother of two boy’s at the age of 23. It wasn’t easy; my boys were only 2 and 4 years old. I was lucky enough to have the support of my family and of course my friends.
Today I am married to the love of my life (so cliché, I know). I also have two wonderful stepchildren. I love to jokingly say that it’s fun being an evil stepmother, but the truth is, I’ve also fallen in love with the little gremlins.
Between my two boys, my stepdaughter and my stepson and our newest little monster, we are a nice big blended family. Our house is often messy, always loud and the groceries seem to disappear before our eyes. I’ve never had so much fun and yet so exhausted!
My husband is an amazing father and an even more amazing husband.
I can honestly say that because of my husband I am a better person and most importantly a better mother. I’m not saying he himself has changed me, it is more the partner he is to me and the father he is to our children that have allowed me to take a deep breath and enjoy life at a new level. Our past experiences have taught us to appreciate what we have found in one another. I absolutely believe that we were meant to spend our lives and raise a family together. We met for the first time when we were about 8 years old. Go figure.
We purchased our first home in February of this year. It needs love, which is exactly the type of house we were looking for. We wanted something we could work on together and give our own touch. Now if we can only find some time to actually complete some of these projects. That would be nice…
This is me in my 30’s. I am a wife, mother, stepmother, daughter, friend and ha! - even an ex-wife! I also work full time as a creative manager for a cable network!
I’m sure you can imagine the insanity my world can sometimes bring. Should make for a fun read, right?
