My, how times (and I) have changed

I usually don’t want this blog to be too much about me (seriously!), but some of us have certain occasions coming up that are making us reflect on where we are and how we got here. While there’s much I’m not willing to share with you anonymous blog readers, here are a few thoughts on where I was the last time I entered a new decade of my life.

When I turned twenty…

I was sharing a big one-bedroom apartment in Isla Vista and paying only $335. By the time I left Santa Barbara six years later, this same apartment was going for $1,300, indicative of the rental markets of every city I’ve lived in since.

I still remembered the entirety of most of the dances and sideline chants from my cheerleading days.

I was dating a guy in the Marines who’d just been hurriedly shipped off to the Persian Gulf to keep an eye on things after Bill Clinton bombed Iraq. (In a weird twist, Brian, this was called Operation Desert Fox.)

Only a handful of my high-school classmates were married with kids.

I had just declared an English major, thereby committing myself to a life of poverty.

The only time I’d worn high heels was prom.

Celine Dion was still making me cry every time I heard that song from Titanic.

My beloved Jelly Bean (a green, sparkly Hyundai Accent) was nearly new.

I had yet to try sushi, Indian food, or most ethnic foods, and I still thought I hated almost all vegetables, fish, and shellfish.

My idea of a crazy night was renting movies and eating too much candy with my roommate.

I didn't need glasses.

I had racked up only a year-and-a-half’s worth of student loans and credit card debt.

I had never considered living on the East Coast.

I was a devout Republican.

And I had no idea of the intense pain and joy that awaited me in the next ten years, the hard decisions and mistakes, and the wonderful people I would meet.

Thanks to Amanda Vierra, the above-mentioned 1998 roommate, who provided these charmingly naïve-looking photos of my younger self. Yes, my hair was dayglo blonde; blame the Santa Barbara sun. That’s Amanda in the Valentine’s photo, (taken for free at the UCSB Bookstore—aren’t we cute?), and rollerblading around campus at night with our friend Sabrina.