10, 20, 30, 40....

My friend, April, got this idea from her friend and I enjoyed it so much I'm turning it into a tag-meme so I can hopefully see some other histories.

Where were you 10, 20, 30, 40+ years ago?

10 years ago, October 1997… I was 29 and about to celebrate my first wedding anniversary with my best co-captain (in Nov). We lived in our first home with our two dogs – a Sheltie and Shepherd mix. Our 60-year-old home had a third bedroom that was so tiny we called it the half-bedroom, a bath and half-bath that were back-to-back, no central air and a basement that flooded, had large roaches, mice and even had a bird flying around one time! But it also had a beautifully remodeled kitchen, textured walls painted like Pottery B@rn, hardwood floors throughout and it was ours. We loved it.

20 years ago, October 1987… I was 19 and in my first year at SMSU (now MO State). I had just completed a year and a half at the local junior college and decided to go out of state for my education degree. I was living in the dorms and making terrible choices in my first year away from home. Being lost as I was (I accepted Christ as my Savior in '98), I continued to make bad choices all 4 years in college and right up until I met my husband on my birthday in 1995.

30 years ago, October 1977… I was 9 and healing from 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my hands and arms. One month earlier, I’d been playing in my back yard’s weeping willow tree when a friend (higher in the tree) stepped on a live power line. I will never forget watching the sparks fly between my hands and the tree trunk. Also won't forget the smell. We'd been playing in the tree because we had school canceled for about a week. One of the worst floods in KC history had hit September 12 & 13, killing 20+ people, flooding the Plaza up to many businesses’ ceilings and flooding our basement up to the top step of the lower level of our home (our old neighborhood has since been converted to a park; 15-20 homes were torn down a few years ago due to repeated flooding).

40 years ago, October 1967… I was 3½ months in my mother’s womb! I have no memories of this (hee-hee) but it tells you that I’m coming upon a dreaded milestone birthday. The only other birthday that was tough for me was 35. I didn’t stress about 30 or any others, really, but 35 reminded me that I was close to 40. Remember the line from “When Harry Met Sally”?

Sally: And I'm gonna be forty.
Harry: When?
Sally: Someday. (she was wailing this!)
Harry: In eight years.
Sally: But it's there. It's just sitting there, like this big dead end. And it's not the same for men. Charlie Chaplin had babies when he was 73.

That’s totally me. And now that “someday” is just 5+ short months away.

So that’s my history in 10-year-highlight-fasion. Now I tag Marie, Michele, Addie and Sarah. I hope you have as much fun as I did… and NONE of you will get to go back as far as I did. Hey, now that I think about it, what am I doing hanging out with such nubile, hot, young moms?!