Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Memories of Summer

I LOVE having a reason to look forward to Mondays and Monday Listicles with Stasha is my reason.


 1. Summer 1988-It was the summer after my senior year of high school. My boyfriend and I had broken up (completely my fault) and I'm pretty sure I spent the entire summer regretting it. I spent my days working, tanning, and partying with friends. At the last minute I decided NOT to go to college as planned. At the very, very last minute I changed my mind and applied to the local university and took 10 hours the first semester while working full-time.


 2. Summer 1991-I was a few months shy of 21 and I moved home for the summer and shared a house with some of my best high school friends. We had an insane amount of fun and thank our lucky stars that social media, cell phones, FaceBook were not even on the radar. I wish I could go into more detail but I gotta protect the guilty!


3. Summer 1995- Big Yankee and I met at a local watering hole. You can read his version of how we met here. When I gave him my phone number I didn't realize that he lived 1168 miles away! He came for a visit a few weeks later. I went to visit him in August and he took me to Las Vegas for the first time.


 4. Summer 1999- Big Yankee and I tied the knot at a historic mansion on an swelteringly hot day in July. We spent the next few weeks traveling around the East Coast on our honeymoon. We stuffed ourselves with seafood, toured every brewery and winery we could find and hit as many state capitals as we could.

5. Summer 2001- I gave birth to my first child, Einstein in June. We had many out-of-state visitors and took full advantage of my maternity leave. We spent a weekend exploring San Diego and going to baseball games. We watched  San Diego Padres Vs.  Chicago Cubs and Anaheim Angels vs. Baltimore Orioles. It was Cal Ripken's last game in California.

6. Summer 2002- We traveled to the East coast for a wedding of 2 friends who had met at OUR wedding. It was a gorgeous outdoor wedding in the DC area. We spent 2 weeks exploring the area and trekking to upstate New York to introduce Einstein to our extended families and to visit. It makes my heart happy that Einstein spent some time with his Great Grandma (mine) and Great Grandpa (Big Yankee's) while he had the chance.

7.  Summer 2003- I sent a not yet 2 year old Einstein and Big Yankee from the West Coast to the East Coast for a friend's wedding. Not 2 days later I had my first experience with pre-term labor. It was midnight & I didn't want to bother anyone since I CERTAIN it was nothing. They gave me some shots, stopped labor and told me to lay low for a few days. I took the day off work and laid around watching Big Brother and ordering pizza. I would drive myself back to the hospital the following night with more contractions and panicked because the reality of delivering a pre term baby all alone was a very real possibility. I spent six weeks on bed rest and my dad came from Oklahoma to California to care for Einstein. My mom, brother and sister and mother in law would all take their turns visiting and helping after my emergency c-section. We had house guests from June thru early September that year.


9. Summer 2007 -We had been living in Kansas for nearly 2 years when Big Yankee went back to get his Master's. He was in class all day and worked 2nd shift with an hour commute each way. We never saw him awake. Stinkbug was 6 months, Peanut was 3 1/2 and Einstein was 5 1/2. I was EXHAUSTED! I spent as much time as I could hanging out with friends at our neighborhood pool or being driveway divas.

10. Summer 2011-We loaded up in the Nissan Quest and embarked on a 29 day, 11 state, 5001 mile road trip! We visited family and friends all over and visited Idaho for the first time. It was an amazing, exhausting, memorable vacation.

18 comments:

Stasha said...

Love that a couple met at your wedding!! Sweet. You have some memories girl!

Robyn said...

That's quite a road trip! I don't know if I could be in car that long!

Debbie said...

Great memories. One thing you wrote, about not having cell phones, Face Book, and any social media when you were young grabbed my attention. Mainly because I have been thinking a lot about this lately and how much time humans now, spend in social media instead of getting out house and doing things with their kids, or friends/family. And I am the most guilty of this.

Unknown said...

So fun to read about all your summers. When you think about your swingin' single summers and then think about recent summers-with-kids... Crazy how different life is now. Right?

bridget said...

Wow! Not only do you have a great memories, but a great memory! I can't remember what I did yesterday.

Jennifer said...

I would love to take a long road trip like that.

Robbie K said...

To add to the coolness of their meeting-she surprised me by attending our wedding. We had lost touch but reconnected at our high school reunion and the invitation was more of "hey we're getting married."

Robbie K said...

It was definitely an experience! We usually only drove for 2 days in a row & then would stay a few days where we were visiting.

Robbie K said...

yes we definitely spend lots of time connecting thru a screen but not face to face.

Robbie K said...

Definitely a totally different experience once those babies show up!

Robbie K said...

you make me laugh! I can't remember where i put my keys or cell phone or how to do techno stuff but i have great recall of the past!

Robbie K said...

It was a fantastic experience. We were both laid off & we figured we'd never have the opportunity again as coordinating time off doesn't seem to happen.

Fritter said...

I love this list of your summers- it's original and so interesting to read your responses- thinking to myself what I was also doing those same summers. And I HEAR you- I too am glad social media wasn't around to taint those times. Life might have been too easy, or too complicated.

Recovering Supermom said...

What great memories! And I'm with Bridget...I'm extremely impressed that you remember all of those things! I hope this summer is just as great for you as all of your memories!

Heidi said...

Your summers sound epic! How fun! Now...what happens this summer?

The Preppy Girl in Pink said...

I couldn't agree more about not missing social media during those growing up and discovering years! So happy that I don't have the posts up to haunt me!!!
Hope you have lots of fun making memories of this summer!!

Kimberly said...

There is no way I could be in the car for 29 days! That's amazing!

Unknown said...

I really like your post. I don't know if I would remember as many summers as you do. I also am the master of losing things my final year of high school was also 88.