All Rileyed Up

Mary of Life, the Universe, and Everything tagged me for a meme and I was all excited. Yea, a meme! No one ever tags me for a meme! Now it’s like a month later and I realize why no one ever tags me for a meme.

So.

The task is simple: think back on the last 15 years of your life. What would you tell someone that you hadn’t seen or talked to for 15 years? How would you sum up your life? You get 10 bullet points. A list of 10 things to summarize about you.

This is quite similar to the bios I was reading in my husband’s high school reunion pamphlet last month. Some dude actually included a picture of himself shirtless while driving a boat. I totally lambasted him before realizing he was sitting at my table. Oops. Didn’t recognize him with his shirt on.

Ahem. Back to me. Ten things I did from age 16 to 31.

1. Let’s start at 16 then? I developed a crush on a guy who worked with me at Blockbuster Video (actually, he worked at a different BBV, but he always stopped by mine because he was roommates with my boss). I flirted with him incessantly and one day he asked if I wanted to go to the Jesus and Mary Chain concert with him and his friends and gave me his phone number. I chickened out and never called him. Assume I did that a lot through bullet point 5.
2. Age 18. (I’ve told you guys this before, but here we go again) I went on a trip to France to celebrate the freedom and independence that comes with graduating from high school. I started off on the Bretagne coast and then went to a small town in Northern France with a friend. I bowled in Belgium. I went kayaking and was the 1500th customer at the kayaking place and they gave me a bunch of prizes and my picture was in two local papers, Un American En Canoe! Small French towns rock!
3. Still 18. I moved to New Orleans.
4. Ages 18-22. I don’t remember too clearly what happened in New Orleans. But crawfish was involved. And parades with flying cabbage. A couple police officers at an inopportune moment. And a Latin professor at a really inopportune moment.
5. Age 22. I moved to California. I rented a bedroom from a man I found through the Penny Saver who coached junior high girls volleyball.
6. Age 23. I won the Halloween costume contest at Gateway Computers by convincing the rest of my team to dress up with me as the Village People. This was a key moment worth bringing up because it told me I don’t belong in a corporation.
7. Age 23-25. Husband and I bought and tended a 150-tree apple orchard. The eating of many tasty apples and apple treats ensued.
8. Age 25. I got pregnant and had a baby.
Diapers and sleepless nights, along with 2 major house moves followed.
And then…
9. Age 27. I got pregnant (again) and had a baby (again).
Diapers and sleepless nights (again), along with 2 major house moves (again).
And then…
10. I wrote a novel.

Tag yourself. I don’t want to put that pressure on anyone.