A picture says a thousand words...

You guys... this was me. This was me in High School to be brutally honest. The bleach blonde hair, braces, MIDRIFF EXPOSED (SOUND THE ALARMS!!!), crazy Rastafarian hair. What the hell was THAT about?

But what was I really like?

I was "Wendy" to a group of "lost boys."
I was a daughter in a freshly broken home.
I was a girlfriend, just a friend, girlfriend, just a friend, girlfriend, just a friend...
I was a Gwen Stefani wannabe.
I was an artist who wanted desperately to find her medium.
I was a hard worker at my job, but not at school.
I was NEVER at school. How I managed to be there for picture day is still baffling.
I was naive, but thought myself street smart.
I was balls to the wall insane.
I was easily bruised, too.

I think some of my best memories are of adventures involving my "lost boys" so to speak. This one time, we snuck into the local YMCA park at night to smoke weed in the port-o-potties and play on the playground. I found myself being pushed on the tire swing by my best friend (then boyfriend, and no not the one from that other prompt). One minute I'm being spun around and swung high into the air and the next I'm flying THROUGH the air with the tire still underneath me. The way I land on the ground, the tire strikes my inner thigh. For a week following, I had tire tread bruises as if I'd been run over.

My boys were all a grade ahead of me, so once they graduated High School and left for college or for other paths, I was lost. I spent days skipping school and visiting them at home or on campus. That choice alone cost me my High School diploma. These boys were my lifeblood at this point in my life. My parents had split, I COULD.NOT.STAND High School girl drama and their friendships were what motivated me to get out of bed each morning. They were the ones who showed up at my door when my Mom would kick me out for one reason or another. They were the ones who knew when I was close to my limit, in all senses of the word, and found ways to distract me and lift my spirit. Yes, we smoked a lot of weed until I stopped for health reasons, and they were my support when I stopped. No, I wasn't some sort of concubine as my Mother still thinks to this day.


As different as my life would have been had I finished High School, I'm still not sure I would have chosen that path. I know, "But I'm smart! I'm such a workhorse! How could I have not gone to college!?!?" I see my life now, with my children and know that they wouldn't have been here had I chosen any other path. That the dice were thrown in such a way, that there's no way I would have the children I have now. I probably wouldn't have my wonderful Husband either. Maybe one day soon I'll put myself back into debt and get that degree. Am I the only person that wishes they could see what would have happened had they lived their lives even a tiny bit differently? Where's my ghost of adolescence past?

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

So anyways... Happy 1st day of February, you guys!!! Maybe y'all are unaware of the awesomeness that lays before you, but I just thought you should know that you're in for one wild ride this month. Get your passports ready, people!!! Not only have I signed up with BlogHer to do NaBloPoMo for February, but I also just scanned, edit and organized my travel albums. We'll be traveling to Tokyo, Alaska, Germany, Costa Rica, Africa, Kuwait, Cyprus, and I have a few other "trips" up my sleeve. Maybe if we pray hard enough, one of my former Flight Attendant buddies will guest post. Only time will tell!