7 things about me

Today is my birthday. I'm 35 today.

A few days ago Sognatrice tagged me for a meme. This one is called the 7 things meme and these are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names.

Okay, so I'm getting tired of coming up with people to tag and I end up re-tagging people who have already been tagged for the same meme (sorry, Michelle!). So, I'm not doing that part. If you want to play, please feel free and just let me know in the comments and then I will link to your blog.

Since I'm 35 today, I've decided to divide my number of years by 7 and list one thing about each of the 5-year divisions I end up with. What luck that 35 is divisible by 7!

0-5 years old: My favourite piece of clothing was a pair of orange overalls with Winnie the Pooh on them. I wore them in my kindergarten class photo. I think I wore them a lot. I loved Winnie the Pooh when I was little. I still have my oversized stuffed Pooh; Emily plays with him now. I still get Pooh gifts for my kids based on the fact that I was a bit of a fan when I was tiny. Some things you just can't shake. I never owned the stories though. Go figure.

5-10 years old: In grade 1 I was spanked by my teacher for talking too much in class (not exactly surprising). As my older cousins had been asking me every time they saw me if I'd been spanked by my teacher yet (knowing that she was a spanker), I was rather proud of it. I came home and told my mum, thinking she would think it was funny. Turns out, no. I distinctly remember her telling me: If you get spanked again, you'll get a spanking from me, too! As an aside, I LOVED my grade 1 teacher and continued to do so after the spanking.

10-15 years old: I got my ears pierced for my 13th birthday. My mum had originally told me I had to be 16 (she was a bit strict about these kinds of things). I begged and pleaded and she conceded for my 13th birthday. Now, I never wear earrings. Although I have 3 piercings in 1 ear and 1 in the other. Kind of screams 1988.

15 -20 years old: I got a tattoo when I was 19 with my friend, Holly, from university. I recently reconnected with her and we reminisced about the tattoos. We both still have them and neither of us regret it. We did it before the "tat" craze hit so it seemed edgy. Now we're just like everyone else.

20-25 years old: When I was 24, I got a gig doing a Dove soap commercial. It was Dove's first foray into the "real users" campaign. It's a bit of a long story but in the end it was just me mountain biking (a passion of mine at the time and one I sorely miss), and I made about $7,000 which helped pay for part of my graduate school fees that year and paid my way to Russia and backpacking through Europe with one of my closest friends. Oh, and I got to keep the Donna Karan suit. Too bad it doesn't fit anymore. I really need to get back on that mountain bike.

25-30 years old: I married John when I was 27. My mum was also married at 27 and when I was younger I thought that sounded so old for "marrying age." I swore I would be younger (I have no idea why I cared about that - I think it was from all my friends' parents being younger than that when they got married). I'm so glad that I was in my late twenties. My mum was glad, too. More maturity, more life experience, and lots of time to explore my independence.

30-35 years old: In these last 5 years, two things have happened to me that have fundamentally changed me: my mum dying and John and I having kids. My mum died when Emily was only 6 months old. Emily's first six months were clouded over with my mum's terrible illness and her impending death. That experience, and her absence, has changed the way I think about things, decisions I make, the way I am as a partner and parent. Having my girls has changed the way I think about life as a whole.