30 Years Ago

(I'm going to guess, from the size of my head relative to my height, that this picture was taken circa 1984)

30 Years ago I...
1. was celebrating my first birthday in base housing in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
2. I had a party and everyone who came got to stay even longer when we all got snowed in.
3. I was seeing doctors to see if the hole in my heart was healing on its own.

25 years ago I. . .
1. was six years old.
2. was in kindergarten at this time of the year and was sitting on the green tile in the yellow circle with the alphabet and numbers.
3. was living on Dublin Street with Magnolia trees blossoming in the front yard.
4. was twirling a baton in local parades and performing to Singing in the Rain.

20 years ago I . . .
1. was eleven years old.
2. was still living in the house on Dublin.
3. was sharing a room with my little sister.
4. was showing lambs at the Kern County Fair.
5. was playing the flute and in the choir and missing a lot of time in Mrs. Steele's 5th grade class.

15 years ago I. . .
1. was sweet sixteen!
2. was living in Bedford, Wyoming.
3. was raising lambs, rabbits, pigs, goats, horses, dogs, cats, and birds.
4. was getting my driver's license and learning how to drive a stick shift in a rebuilt 1964 Chevy pickup truck... and I only took out one fence and one street sign :)

10 years ago I . . .
1. was 21!
2. was living in an all girls condo in Provo, Utah.
3. was attending Brigham Young University (I know, ya, me... can you believe it?)
4. was working partime as a telephone operator (BYU Info) and full time as an agricultural intern for the Utah State Cooperative Extension Agency (a/k/a 4-H Agent)... I was also trying to take a full class load.
5. was seeing a neurologist in Salt Lake City, Utah and trying to get a handle on my epilepsy.

7 years ago I . . .
1. was living in Fairview, Wyoming.
2. was completely, totally, head over heels, in love with Jim and had been for a year.
3. was working as a legal assistant at a law firm in Jackson, Wyoming.
4. was commuting 80 miles one way to work every day.

5 years ago I . . .
1. was still living in Fairview.
2. was even more so completely, totally, head over heels, in love with Jim and had been for three years.
3. was still working as a legal assistant, but had added the additional moniker of office manager to my title.
4. was about to become an aunt for the first time.

This past year I . . .
1. was living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
2. was completely, totally, head over heels, in love with Jim and celebrating our seventh year of knowing each other.
3. have been working in a private family investment office.
4. lost the love of my life at the hands of some very evil people and had all my hopes dreams and future taken from me in one single evening.
5. spent six months dedicated to bringing justice to Jim instead of planning the wedding we were going to have.
6. traveled to Colorado a total of seven times and only two of those times was Jim with me.
7. lost my Papa Jim too.

So far this year I . . .
1. am still living in the condo that Jim and I moved into last spring.
2. have only traveled to Colorado once so far... but that's about to change already.
3. lost Grandma Warren.
4. have been working hard to catch up on all that I've missed at work.
5. have not taken my camera out as much as I should be...
6. have worked so many hours and been so stressed that I have started having issues with my epilepsy again.
7. have experienced conversations I would have never have thought I would have had in a million years.

In the next year I shall . . .
1. not rest until I see it through.
2. try to live the way Jim would like to have seen me live.
3. take my camera out more.
4. do something everyday that reminds me of the love Jim and I shared.
5. pay off the credit card debt I didn't have before July of last year.
6. continue to look for the signs that Jim is around.