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Since we graduated from high school, I went to Purdue and graduated with a degree in public relations. Then I followed my superhot and superfun boyfriend to Chicago where I worked for a year in PR and hated every minute of it (except lunch, that was okay). I went back to school and got my master's degree in education because I really missed school. I did my student teaching in Oak Park and enjoyed every minute of it.
While I was in school my mom died of breast cancer so when I graduated in 1997, I moved to Memphis where my dad was living and taught in an odd, desperate rural school. I was the only teacher who didn't regularly paddle my 2nd graders. After a year of thinking to myself, "What the f@!#?!?" I was lucky enough to land a job working as an on-set tutor for Glenn Close's daughter. It was loads of fun, the kind of job you can't believe you're getting paid to do, and then I moved to New York to tutor Annie and work as Glenn's assistant. I had to leave behind the superhot, superfun boyfriend, which was sad, but I got to hang out with famous people, which was fun. While I was a great tutor, I wasn't such a great assistant. Some day I'll expand on an embarassing story that involves a movie script, Kinko's, and Tom Cruise. After a year of not much tutoring but a lot of office work, I left Glenn and joined the national tour of the musical "Ragtime" where I tutored the kids performing in the show. Another job where I had so much fun I couldn't believe they actually paid me money. We started in NYC where I met another superhot, superfun guy named Eric. He traveled across the country with me for 2 years and after surviving countless travel days we decided we could make it through anything and got engaged.
We moved to Los Angeles and I worked as a tutor before settling into a wonderful, sweet, lovely little school in La Crescenta, CA in the foothills of Glendale (not a paddle in sight!). We got married and I spent four years teaching 4th grade. After years of watching my family and friends have babies and feeling like I finally knew everything I needed to know to be a good mom, I decided it was time for us to take the leap into parenthood. Then, almost 2 years later, sweet Virginia Olson was born just after Thanksgiving of 2005. She was amazingly beautiful and wonderful, but no one told me how cranky she'd be and how hard it would be to take care of this tiny, energetic, screamy kid. I tried everything...swaddling, gas drops, bouncy seats, long car rides, gripe water...and nothing seemed to work. Turns out she just needed a mom who could chill out and not fuss over the slightest hiccup. And here I thought I knew everything.
Sometime during her infancy, Eric and I decided to get out of the traffic-ridden, smog-laden basin of LA and head to cleaner air and fresher water. We finally settled on Indianapolis. We lived here for about 6 months when I decided that Ginny, at 14 months, looked like she was getting really old and lonely, so 9 months later, we gave her a little baby brother to ignore. Nick was born the day after Christmas (which is, I think, the worst birthday possible) and now that he's 2 1/2 and willingly gives up his toys whenever Ginny asks, the two of them are best friends.
I currently teach in the College of Education at the University of Phoenix at the Indianapolis campus and enjoy spending my days at home with the kids. Eric works at the Children's Museum so we spend a lot of time there hanging out with Rex the Dinosaur. My dad has a lake house on Tippy so we spend a little time there every summer, although I never run into anyone (except Christa, who can't escape me, even when she tries!). I think I finally talked Lydia into coming from CA for the weekend and I'm still harassing Jeremy Beer. He'll either show up for the reunion or his lawyers will be sending me a letter soon.
I'm looking forward to the reunion, even though high school seems like a distant memory, as though it didn't happen to me but to someone who looked like me in a movie. Maybe once I see everyone it will all come rushing back!
