Oh the Places You’ll Go

Remember that book by Dr. Seuss? I was thinking about how many dang places I’ve lived in my life today because I recently invited many of my long-lost friends from all over the place to read my blog (that’s why new people are posting comments now--yay!). I’m so happy that many of them are still my friends and it’s always so fun to catch up and find out how people have “grown up” and how things sometimes change a lot and sometimes not at all. So here’s a little (long) list of the places I’ve been/lived in my 33 ½ years on this blessed Earth.

1. A couple days in the Oakwood hospital in Dearborn, Michigan.
2. 4 years in Taylor, Michigan. My earliest memory is our crazy cat Bootsie getting “taken” away because she was old and sick.
3. 14 years in Livonia, Michigan. Too much to even mention…I l-o-v-e-d this house, and still have a few friends from high school…hi Erin and Carley!
4. 2 years in Rexburg, Idaho (with summers and holidays in Livonia). I lived in Dorm 5 my first year and Birch Plaza (#106 rocks!!) my second year.
5. A couple months in West Jordan, UT. I was officially ousted from Rexburg after some poor academic performance and sought shelter and some serious comedic relief living with Jeff and Amy at their first little house off of 90th South. This is the period of my life I plunged toilets and sold cigarettes and beer for food stamps at Maverick (I didn’t know!!). But my nights were filled with fritos and bean dip, ice cream, and awesome Star Trek reruns with J&A…I’ll never forget it!!
6. 1 year in Chelsea, Michigan. Shauna and Daren opened their home to little orphan Suzy and I shared a tiny bedroom in their Wilkinson house with (my favorite) niece Paige. Her crib was about a foot from my bed and she’d stand and throw her binky or bottle at me and laugh (or scream bloody murder) at all hours of the night. Shauna and I took long walks in the evenings talking about everything (mostly what to do with my pathetic life) and I’ll always love that special time with her.
7. 1 ½ years in the Czech Republic. June 1995-September 1995 was spent in the MTC...yes a month longer than normal because I got my original call (to Serbia) changed at the last minute because missionaries were ousted from the country), and reassigned to CZ. We spent the extra month trying to learn the new language…a lot of help that did!! I was “in country” from September 1995-December 1996.
8. ½ year in Rexburg, Idaho...again! I returned to Ricks to get my dang degree before moving on to USU. This is when/where I bumped into Mark in another English class (first met in ‘93 in an English class) and fate took over.
9. 1 ½ years in Logan and Provo, Utah. I went to USU and worked at Trefoil Ranch in Provo Canyon (Girl Scout Camp) during the summers and winter camps.
10. 1 ½ years in Pocatello, Idaho. I moved to “Poca-hell-hole” after Mark and I were married in December 1998. We lived there until he graduated.
11. 3 years in Boise, Idaho. Mark went to grad school at BSU, and I finally got a “real job”. Maryn and Avery were born here. I loved Boise.
12. 3 years in Twin Falls, Idaho. Mark taught at CSI, and I stayed home with my youngin’s off and on. I taught ESL to migrant workers in Kimberly, ID, babysat, proctored tests at CSI, freelanced edited bits & pieces of random writing here and there, but mostly sat on my driveway with a tin cup looking for handouts.
13. 2 years in Livonia, Michigan. Here we are!! I NEVER thought I’d live in the same city I grew up in. Mark’s back in school (PhD at Wayne State), and we both commute to Detroit every day. Dr. Seuss would be shocked.
    

Oh the places I’ve gone, indeed!!