my aunt stephanie passed away almost a month ago. she was only 54 and had battled ovarian cancer for 8 years. i feel so fortunate i had been able to travel to Utah just a few weeks before she passed and visit her for what i did not know would be the last time. i was also able to travel back for her funeral. it was a hard but soul-filling week spent together with family, remembering steph, spending time in nature, and doing some of the things she loved most. she meant so much to so many people, and i came home from that week feeling renewed and motivated to live like steph. during the funeral service, my mom, aunt jennifer, and steph's son cameron all shared things from stephanie's blog or facebook page. i've been feeling a desire to start writing again, and decided today pretty much to resurrect my blog. who knows how long i'll be on this earth. and while i do a decent job of journaling, that is much more private and i don't anticipate many will read it. this is where i want to share some of my thoughts and feelings on life. in cameron's talk he shared an old facebook post called 20 things you might not know about me. so without further ado, here are 20 things you might not know about me.
2. i also feel at home in the mountains. the mountains are my own personal balm of gilead, and wherever we end up long term once our medical training journey is over, one of my requirements is that we live somewhere i can go hiking on a regular basis. (somewhere to ski in the winter would be nice, too)
3. on my road bike is another place i feel at home. i especially love doing big climbs on my bike. i love the feeling of pedaling myself up a mountain, lungs and quads burning, then getting to the top and seeing what i've accomplished. plus the descent is pretty fun.
4. i lived with my grandpa for most of my childhood--we moved in with him when i was 5 1/2 years old and moved out when i was almost 12. while i know that was a difficult time for my parents i only have fond memories of that place and living with my grandpa. he put my sister and me to bed every night and would make up stories and sing us songs. i sing those same songs to my own children now. his backyard was the best place to experience childhood--a trampoline, swing set, a hill for sledding in the winter and slip 'n slides in the summer, big grassy area, and a large wooded area perfect for exploring and imagining.
4. i started playing the piano when i was in 2nd grade, and for a long time i had serious performers anxiety. like when i was 11, 12, 13 it was a struggle to even get me to the recital, let alone perform in it. but by senior year i was able to play a solo recital. that was in large part thanks to my teacher's, Jean Messick, encouragement and training. she's the best.
5. i also played the viola for 2 or 3 years. but i hated practicing and got a "d" in orchestra in 8th grade because i was honest on my practice record...that was when i quit. then my freshman year of college i took lessons again for a semester. i hope one of my children wants to learn a string instrument someday.
6. after my sophomore year of college i backpacked through europe with 5 girlfriends. it was a quick 3 weeks that gave me enough of a taste to really want to go back for more of every place we visited. my favorite was probably salzburg, although florence was pretty magical. also, i didn't bring a camera on that trip.
7. i've completed 3 sprint triathlons, and placed in my age category in one. haha, it was a small one in the tri-cities and the swim was downstream in the columbia river. i do hope to do an olympic triathlon someday.
8. i'd really love to go to grad school someday (and plan to once we are a little more settled). i love school, reading, learning, and i love being in a classroom talking about literature with other students. especially with a really good professor leading the discussion.
9. i love 80's music. tears for fears is one of my favorite bands. i have my sister, brooke, to thank for that love.
10. growing up i always thought i didn't like cake. but my parents usually bought my birthday cake from a grocery store bakery. then i became an adult and started baking cakes for my family's birthdays and realized there is a big wide delicious cakey world out there just waiting to be baked and devoured by me.
11. i love learning about family history and spend the month of october teaching my children about some of their ancestors. there are some people i am really looking forward to meeting in the afterlife-- in particular my grandpa IVon's parents, his wife (who i met but didn't really know), and my dad's mom.
12. while i am not much of an artist myself, i am definitely an appreciator of fine art. i love art museums and collecting art that moves me or tells a story i love.
13. i probably drink over a gallon of water a day and rarely ever drink anything else. (do you have the song in your head now? "water sucks, it really really sucks")
14. i didn't learn to cook until i got married. brennan thought we'd be eating a LOT of BLT's cause that was what i made for him when we didn't eat out or he didn't cook (which, he rarely ever cooked) when we were dating. i don't think i even knew how to make hard boiled eggs. in college i mostly ate cereal, sandwiches, pita chips and hummus, and spinach smoothies. now, i make dinner for my family 6-7 nights a week.
15. i love my children with all that i am. that being said, being a stay-at-home-mom is not my dream job--it just took me a few years to learn that and get over the guilt of that (still working on that one). but i'm also unwilling to go out and get a job right now because i think james is too young and i don't want to leave him with someone else (not that i don't trust other people. i know there are some really great caretakers out there who would love my children well!). i know, it's all very complicated, but i am in a good place with it now in which i'm enjoying being home for the most part while also making plans for future education/employment.
16. i majored in english literature, but i am actually a really slow reader and don't think i'm that great of a writer. luckily my professors thought i was decent, but i hate letting people read my writing because to this day i feel pretty insecure about it (and no, i'm not talking about cheesy lists). i think i'm particularly bad at personal essays and poetry.
17. in 8th or 9th grade i was awarded "best defense attorney" at mock trial. for quite a while i thought i wanted to go to law school, haha. i still think law school would be cool, but i really don't think i'd like being an attorney. growing up i wanted to be a field agent for the cia, a film director, and an astronomer (not all at once, those were all different phases).
18. whales are my favorite animals. the only time i've seen them in the wild was offshore in olympic national park in washington and i was so moved by the experience i cried. i love those peaceful giants and someday i want to go snorkeling with them.
19. in another life i think i was a dancer. if there's one thing i wish i would have stuck with as a kid it would be dance. i love a good dance party and that was my favorite part of my wedding reception. we have dance parties pretty much every day in our house.
20. i think the office is overrated.
1 comment:
I've had the thought a few times over the past couple of years to start blogging again. Really for myself, because I don't keep a journal, but sometimes I really get the urge to write. Recently I've been thinking a lot about it for two reasons. One, because Steph passed away and I wanted my future self and anyone else who ends up reading my words to know how much I love her. Today I finanlly logged in (after googling how to log into an old blog) and what do you know, my sister still blogs! Then I came to read your blog and you have this beautiful post about aunt Steph, I guess she inspired us both. I think I'll start my resurrection with my own tribute to Steph. I still claim the title of World's Worst Blog so I hope nobody really reads it.
p.s. I also think the office is overrated.
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