I wish there was something exciting and out of the ordinary for me to write here, but there is not. I was born in a small town in rural Minnesota. I am the oldest of two girls, and not unlike many these days, my parents divorced when I was relatively young. My dad worked some in a manufacturing plant, which he left to pursue his real interest–farming. Eventually, he remarried, and my step-mom joined our fun. (I say that with some sarcasm. There were definitely some un-fun years.) She stepped up to the plate admirably though, and today runs her own highly-successful photography studio while my dad continues to work the land. My mom worked a lot while I was growing up– full time in a factory sewing life jackets and at my future step-dad’s restaurant.
Different people cope differently, and I did it through academics, music, and sports growing up. I was always busy and these positive outlets and positive people helped me to stay out of too much trouble. I started gymnastics when I was five, and in junior high chose to run cross country and track. I ended up leaving cross country behind to train in the fall for the high school gymnastics season, which was the sport I always loved the most and was most successful in competing. After my sophomore year of high school, I also gave up track to pursue fast pitch softball. Starting in fifth grade, I played percussion in the band, which later meant also playing in jazz, concert, pep and marching bands, and for a brief period, I sang in the choir. I am going to stop there, because if I start listing all of my activities, this page will turn in to a short book! Let’s just say– in the end, I earned Varsity Letters in four sports plus music and was a nerd too.
During my senior year, I suffered a torn ACL. Looking back, it should have been no big deal, but at the time, I went through a major identity crisis! I had lived my life as an athlete– always active– and was known for that part of me, but when it was no longer there, I floundered. No, not academically, but in defining who I was/am, so what did I do? I went to a school 800 miles away– away from my classmates, family and everyone– in hopes of discovering ME in the midst of the idea of who everyone else wanted me to be. My acceptance letter came the same week I had surgery on my ACL, and I decided “TU it is!”
I have to admit, when my mom and step-dad dropped me off, I was afraid. Afraid and determined. It was over 100 degrees the day I moved in to the dorm. I literally thought I was in hell. I also was unwilling to go home. I joined the crew team and earned a scholarship. I also joined a sorority and was hall President before moving in to the sorority house. I certainly knew how to party, and I also knew how to keep all the balls in the air.
It was also in college and my early post-graduate days when I started really exploring my relationship with God. (I posted about my journey in detail during February 2009.)
Once I graduated from college, I stuck around Tulsa. I had a steady job working for the Federal government and a boyfriend that I loved enough to stick around to see where our relationship was going. There was plenty of heartache and distraction– much which was the result of his basketball career, but there was a lot of joy too.
After a year of Kevin playing abroad and having a long-distance relationship that included a total of nine weeks of togetherness during a nine month season, Kevin proposed. We married and started traveling the world together. In 2006, we welcomed our son to our family (The Boy), and after some additional ups and downs, we decided that The Boy and I would stay in the US while Kevin plays abroad. This, of course, means that for significant portions of the year, I act as a single parent without truly being single (thankfully). [More on Country Hopping and Life on Both Sides of the Pond to come.]
I do my best to keep my eyes on the prize (God) and faithfully raise a son who misses his daddy as much as I do.