The Crystal Ball
My friend Catherine from On The Banks of the Rio Grande has tagged me for a twist of the regular “5 Random Things” meme. She wanted to discover what “5 Things I Never Pictured In My Future When I Was 25 Years Old.”
For those who don’t know, I am approaching 38 years old, so 25 is a somewhat foggy memory for me. We had just moved to Denver, we were engaged but not married, I was working as an art director at a publishing firm, slaving away on seriously inane magazines and hating every minute of it (although watching people shoot up heroine from the window of the incredibly poor locale was always interesting). We lived in a small apartment about 15 blocks from where we live now. We were fairly carefree, went out dancing a lot, sometimes looking for milk money in the folds of the couch, but generally enjoying that first taste of truly being on your own.
Fast forward to now, we have been happily married for nearly 12 years, we have a incredibly awesome 5 year old son, I am the co-owner of a thriving design business, and we own a snug little Tudor in the same general area we have always lived.
So what am I surprised about?
1. That I would own a design business. Although Bryan is not a co-owner, he works with us and it definitely feels like a family affair all around. People used to ask us why we didn’t start a business. The truth is, I was scared. But my business partner showed me it was possible, and here we are, 6 years later. Amazing!
2. That I would have diabetes. I was diagnosed during my pregnancy. And it didn’t go away afterwards. I am lucky that I am a mild Type II and that I have it under good control. And in many ways it was a blessing because I have taken much better control of my health since then. But to say that I wasn’t shocked that I got it so early in life would be a lie.
3. George Bush being elected President. Twice. My first major voting experience was for Clinton and I lived in happy, fluffy la-la land for eight years. I always imagined myself as kinda liberal, but Bush’s elections and the country’s reaction to 9/11 showed me how polarized we really are. It was sincerely shocking to me.
4. That I would be sharing my deepest thoughts on the internet. We actually bought our very first home Mac (the 6100 pizza box) right around 1995 – because, you know, computers are more important than rent – and I dabbled in chat rooms here and there but in general I didn’t plunge into massive web disclosure until I got pregnant and needed major amounts of advice from the ladies on Babycenter. And then I started this blog in 2005 and it’s slowly evolved into a wonderful place for me to be creative, express myself, and find friends. Pretty. damn. cool.
5. That I would have a child. This is probably the biggest surprise of all. I know it doesn’t seem like it, given how much I blather on and on about Declan – but Bryan and I really did not think we wanted children. At all. Around 2000, we started seeing our lives change, we stopped going out as much, we started nesting, I guess. We started thinking. Two years later, we decided to go for it. And the miracle of our lives was born.
How about you? What has surprised you since your 25-year old self (if you are an old fogie like me, that is)?
Post about it here or on your own blogs!
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this is great- i totally learned new things about you. 🙂
when i was 25? i never thought i’d live outside of california and now here i am in seattle.
That’s a good question.
That I’d ever get married.
That I’d be raising my nephew as my own son.
That I’d still be living in the DC area.
That I’d have three–count ’em three–sons.
That I’d ever become the suburban mom that I am. Still shaking my head over that one.
This is a great idea! I’ll do mine soon. 🙂
Wow…now you’re really making me think! Twenty-five seems a lifetime ago (I’ll be 40–gasp!–in March).
I’m pretty sure I didn’t imagine myself having four kids–I was WAY out-numbered!
you and I are sisters on the diabetic thing, the same thing happened to me
I’m exactly the same.
When I was 25 I had a newborn and a 1 1/2 year-old! That surprises me now as I look back and think, “how did I do that?” when one toddler exhausts me to the ends of the earth! 🙂
But I couldn’t agree with #3 more, after shaking President Clinton’s hand at my first EVER political rally, I was a goner.
When I was 25 I was living in the city of Detroit miles and miles away from the snowswept hills of Northern Michigan…still hopeful for a different president than Bush the second time and never guessing I’d develop diabetes in pregnancy either. Mine went away but just barely. I need to lose a good chunk and see if that helps at all.
Found your blog from the bloggies, I’ll be stopping by frequently.
I never thought I would spend so much time online. At 25, I had barely ever surfed the web. Now, it’s my livelihood and my hobby too.
fun post and interesting answers!
Great question. Me?
I never thought I’d be a single mom of three.
I never thought I’d be changing careers for the third time.
I never thought that life could get so screwed up but keep managing to hand you a few wonderful things at the same time.
I never thought I’d pierce my navel and get a tattoo, let alone be picking out my second tattoo at the age of 38 (almost). 🙂
Hi, just found you through the blogger awards. And yes, I will definately post about 5 things I didn’t expect when I was 25 (I’m 38). But mostly I wanted to say, I saw your endometriosis symbol on the side of you blog. I was recently diagnosed with andometriosis (a variation on endo-) and I know no one who has it. So I was just excited to see someone else out there in the world with it. How did you deal? When did you find out? Well, in any case, Hi.
emmwlr- welcome! I am sorry you are dealing with endo! I have it mildly, and had the Minera IUD put in a few months ago which seems to be controling it fairly well – except for this weight I am gaining! Ack! But it is my sister who has endo really badly. She has had two surgeries in the past year, the first ins didn’t go so well because the doctor had not taken her symptoms very seiously. The second one was just in December and it was not the standard laser style endo surgery, he actually surgically removed the endo. The jury is still out as to how well it is going for her, but so far so good. Feel free to email me if you want to talk more! Best wishes.
PS – she got a new doctor for the second surgery obviously! 🙂
Good question! I need to think about it!
Well, I was 25, not that long ago…and things haven’t changed a ton. I’ll answer that when I’m 30. 🙂
Although, my life has changed drastically since I was 20…
Good question and great answers from you and other readers. Love to read about it.
For emmwlr, my SIL was just diagnosed with endo as well and she is going to have the uterus ablation procedure in March. I hope it yields great results for her. What are you doing for ando?
Such great insight, Aimee. Thank you for sharing. It’s amazing how much can change in a relatively short amount of time, isn’t it?? We’ll have to do this again in another ten years or so. 🙂
At 25 I was living in the city, had a rocking career, ate out every night, shopped for fab clothes on my lunch breaks, hit Whistler to ski almost every weekend and did what I wanted.
Who knew that three years later I would be a stay@home mom living in suburbia with two year old twin girls, blogging as a hobby?
But I love it.
I loved reading this post!
I may steal it for mine one day…
This was a great post. My biggest surprise: That I’d be a mom, live in the suburbs, commute to a corporate job downtown, and have two dogs but no cats. My 25-year-old self would say “The hell?!”