Story

It's Five-Minute-Friday!  Topic:  Story

Go!

What's your story? 

I was born in Provo, Utah, as my parents oldest child along with my twin brother.  I had two younger siblings growing up and we spent most of our childhood in Woodland Hills.

When I was only 16, I met the man I would marry some day... Jordan. We dated casually for a year, then seriously for a year.  I was on my way to NYU on a full scholarship - I don't know why I chose NYU, it was just as far away from Utah as I could go and it offered opportunities in my two areas of study - Dance and International Relations.  But, the more in love I fell, the more I decided to not run away just yet.  I canceled my NYU plans.
(here we are when we were only 18)

We broke up out of necessity.  We made a fateful decision to break up in order to stay together, if that makes sense. 

I stayed busy to get over him.  I got scuba instructor certified.  I started college at BYU - I wanted to get out of Utah so badly, but decided I could transfer to BYU-Hawaii after a year of saving money.  I got engaged.  Jordan showed up not-so-randomly and told me he still loved me and to not get married to that other guy.  I broke off the engagement.  Jordan and I dated for three weeks.  Jordan left on his mission for two years.

I stayed busy.  I went to school.  I worked full-time.  I joined every extracurricular activity I could think of to stay busy and keep my mind off Jordan - Sailing Club, Hip Hop Club, Unicef, United Way, etc.  I got proposed to seven times.  Seven!  Silly college boys.  They all knew I was in love with the elusive Jordan who was gone on a mission, and college boys always want what they can't have, I guess.  Or maybe I was just really fantastic back then, ha ha!  Just kidding.  A close friend compared it to the movie, "There's Something About Mary."  And I was in Provo, Utah where all college boys seem to be in a hurry to get married.  I was in no hurry.  I just wanted to be with Jordan.

Jordan got home.  Maybe out of spite, he felt he should go ahead and date everyone but me for awhile.  Sting!

Jordan asked me to be patient and stick around.  We dated for a bit, madly in love.  And, one evening, to my shock and surprise, he proposed.  I said yes.  We got married.  In the midst of busy college life, we got married. 



We both worked full-time - he at a boys home for troubled youth, me at an eating disorder recovery center for women and as a dance therapist for a private school for girls with learning disabilities.  We both went to school full-time.  We moved to Iowa for a semester for a soccer scholarship, randomly.  He encouraged me.  I encouraged him.  I got into the dance program.  He got into medical school.  We moved to Virginia. 

We had our first baby on the first week of medical school.  We had our second baby during the fourth year of school.  We moved to Washington D.C.  We got just crazy enough to decide to have a third baby at the end of Internship year/start of Residency.  We have worked hard.  We have played, we have dated, we have loved through it all.

I always continued to work on school - I studied International Area Studies, Linguistics, Dance, Journalism, Community Health Education, History, Creative Writing.... But, every class I took continued to convince me of two things - I wanted to learn everything I needed to know to be the best mom I could be, and I want to be a teacher when my kids are out of the house.

Now I am a full-time mom of my three rascals, ages 2, 3, and 7.  Outside of staying really busy with being a mom, I dance with an international dance troupe here in the D.C. area, where we perform for the Russian Embassy, the World Bank, cultural events, etc.  I love taking really long walks with the stroller.  I love the outdoors.  I love hiking and camping.  I enjoy exercise that really gets me to push myself while also having fun - Jazzercise, Kickboxing (the real kickboxing where you punch the crap out of the boxing bags), Spin, Body Pump.  I love the water - I love to swim, go boating in any kind of boat, go waverunning, body surf, and love love love to S.U.P.  I love the beach.  I don't like to sit still, at all.

Stop.