Things I Don't Want to Forget - Part 1

- Listening to my little purple boom-box on the front stoop of my house on sunny summer days, fall evenings after school, wondering what it would be like to be a grown up. And I'm still trying to figure this out.

- My pink alarm clock. I had this from grade school until I loaned it to someone my freshman year of college. I still miss it.

- Having to do nothing but enjoy the ride as my family drove through the mountains on our way to the beach every summer. And the constant stream of music that I always listened to. It was always the same, but with the occasional addition.
Live - Throwing Copper
U2 - Joshua Tree, Boy
Duran Duran - Wedding Album
Adam Ant - Wonderful
The Black Crowes - Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
Too Much Joy - Cereal Killers
There's more, but I'm starting to forget...

- Driving by myself to Nashville at the age of 19 to go see George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. Everyone was super nice. I wish I had stayed longer and had a drink. I wore this gray dress that zipped up the front and had a hood and my big black boots. That night was the bomb shiz.

- Driving to ICON in Nashville with Maggie and co. twice to get things pierced. 1 nostril. 1 undisclosed. If I ever decide on a tatoo, I'll go there.

- My first job in college: computer lab attendant. And Steven...Steven, Steven, Steven. Thanks for the Heineken and making me watch Rushmore.

- All the boys I've had painful, monster crushes on that still pass through the old brain once in a while.

- The phone calls I got from France in the middle of the night my sophomore year in college and all those letters I wrote but never sent. My life would be very different right now if I had. Just different.

- Laying on the roof of my dorm at night and listening to Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus on my discman. Thanks, Erin, for the musical enlightenment.

- All the important things I was able to achieve without a roommate the second semester of my sophomore year. Many thank you's to Maria de Medeiros. Amen.

- Confusing, frustrating, and beautiful weeks spent at Baptist Camp in Cowan, WV.

- The surreal dream I had while napping one afternoon in college. In the dream I was sitting around a campfire with some friends and some sort of spiritual leader came out and caused a bright light to wash over and into us. It felt like being hugged and lifted up with a warm, powerful force. Of course I woke up right after that. I tried to go back to sleep into the dream, but I couldn't. I don't think it meant anything, but it sure felt good.

- My hot-pink/clear/sparkly jelly shoes. I lost one while walking in the water at the beach on evening when i was 7. Those were my favorite jellies of all time. I don't remember many details about that vacation. It was a joint vacation with my mom's sister and her family at Duck, NC. We stayed in a big house a short walk from the ocean. The one thing I do remember is sharing a room downstairs with my cousins and having a dream about one of them dying and then her ghost walking around the house leaving these dripping, glowing foot prints. I was haunted by that dream all week...and kind of still am.

- The day I met my husband and how I already knew him. And how I knew I would marry him. I was wearing bell bottoms and he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a smile.

- The kindness of the people I worked with on my very first job after college and the gift they gave me of a shopping spree for some work clothes. They gave like $400 and one of the office ladies took me for a day at the mall. Love her for that. This job made me polished and ready for the next job in a scary corporate environment. Now that job, that job I hated.

- Driving from Middle Tennessee to East Tennessee and back again with James. A hoot it was. A hootenanny, even.

- The moments I realize how much I appreciate my KY friends. I've made some fine, fine friends here.