Once upon a time

The marvelously authentic Cynthia at Adventures of a Pretend Cook tagged me with this bad boy.

And since I'm not at all stylish I decided to make this post about something else. These "seven things about myself" are organized by emotion. Seven (or more) profound moments in my life. (Warning - these are personal. Please don't make fun of me or go posting them on the internet or something.)

Embarrassment
I hated my life in Junior High. Didn't everybody? I had no self confidence and a few friends that didn't have much confidence in me either. There was one girl in particular who was especially bad for me. I think she kept me around because I made her feel better about herself, and I hung around because she did things like sit at the right lunch table. In retrospect I can't believe I was friends with her. Then again, I also feel proud that I was able to recognize the situation at age 14 and make a very conscious decision to find myself a completely different set of friends. (And I did.)

Anyway, I pooped at her house one time and clogged the toilet. She kept exclaiming, "Gross! Who clogged the toilet?!" (Which was so ridiculous because she clearly knew it was not her and, therefore, me.) I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Sadness
It just goes to show how lucky I am. The fact that my only memories of overwhelming sadness have to do with a boy. Oh the drama...too much to write about on a blog. I used to say that I didn't believe in soulmates because it was too depressing to think that you had found yours and it didn't work out. But life continued on. I was blessed with another great love - my husband - and I am emphatically aware of all the reasons why he is better for me.

Surprise
Walking up to the list of girls who made the cheerleading squad my freshman year of high school and seeing my name on the list. They overlooked the pretty and popular requirement the year I tried out.

Anxiety
I have had one panic attack in my life. It was a couple years ago, and it had to do with work. I'm not going to get into the details, but my company took a big loss and I felt responsible. I thought I was having a heart attack. And then I started panicking about that. It wasn't fun. I wouldn't recommend having one.

Regret
When I was in the seventh grade I watched a boy try and talk a girl with down syndrome into eating a cookie that had fallen on the ground. Okay...but it was almost completely covered with ants. I was appalled, but I didn't say anything. Nobody said anything, but that isn't really an excuse. I still feel sick thinking about it.

Joy
I'm going to skip over the obviously joyful moments like my wedding and mention a few of the seemingly small, but quietly significant, moments in my life.

The first note of the first song, during the first All-State Women's choir practice my senior year of high school. Sitting in my car on an autumn day my junior year of college, listening to Chanticleer and watching the leaves fall from the trees. Talking and laughing with friends after high school choir concerts. Every single one of them. Driving through the Colorado Rockies, listening to my amazingly talented friend sing along with the CD player. He will be famous one day. The clank of heels against the hardwood stage floors at piano competitions. Opening night of our high school musical productions. Closing night of our high school musical productions.

Anybody notice a pattern?

Pride
Jogging two laps around the track without stopping for the first time.

I tag 5K Rae. Mostly because she has no idea who I am or that I read her blog. What do you say Rae? I totally understand if you don't want to write the post, but let's hold off on the restraining order until we get to know each other a little better.