Saturday, March 23, 2019

Good Lord! Another 5.5 Years

I am absolutely terrible at this. I love writing but clearly, I get busy and completely forget that this even exists. Obviously, I'm great at naming blogs though because this is definitely Life in Retrospect! Wow, August 2013 was so long ago now. Here is the quick and dirty.


  1. I'm living with my soulmate. He's an amazing man who can also drive me up the freaking wall.
  2. We have a high maintenance cat that is awesome. He's only high maintenance because he had diabetes and chronic kidney disease. So, he gets insulin 2x per day and subcutaneous fluids every day. No vacations for us together right now.
  3. I work for the same company that I did the last time I posted, it's been almost 11 years. WTF. I've had promotions and job role changes. Right now I have an awesome team, we are small but mighty
  4. I am at a new skating club but still have a lot of responsibility. I'm good with it.
  5. I coach more than I skate. I have awesome students who are working so hard to improve. Watching them learn and grow is amazing. I'd love for that to be my full-time job!
  6. I just had my gall bladder removed. Fancy.
  7. I had the most amazing 40th birthday, garage party at the Garland's. Pinata smashing, Cards Against Humanity playing, and Karaoke singing all included. It's almost time for birthday 45! How does that happen?!
  8. Because of #1 above I'm now a 45-minute drive from work. So, I have an obsession with audiobooks. I've listened to at least 6 books in the last 3 months. I should really start an audiobook review blog that I rarely post to

That about sums up the key happenings of the last 5.5 years!

Sunday, August 18, 2013

The First Kiss

First, I have to say that coming up with and keeping track of the names I’m giving people is fun and entertaining.  Some people are so easy and others are a pretty big challenge.  On to the story…
My first kiss was from The Older Man.  I was sixteen and he was probably nineteen, maybe even twenty.  Scandalous.  We had met several times though church functions.  He was good friends with someone I’ll call The Hunk and during church events they hung out with My Church BFF.  I didn’t attend their church regularly, it was my Grandparent’s church, but their youth group was tons more fun than my own so I did a lot of things with them.

The first kiss took place in late fall.  The Youth Director (I’m giving her a name because I may have other stories…) of my Grandparent’s church invited me to join the youth group in a church volleyball tournament.  This tournament was probably 1.5 hours from my house and I was only sixteen but somehow my mother agreed to let me drive.  I love volleyball and was so excited to see my three friends: The Hunk, The Older Man and My Church BFF.  I had a great time playing volleyball and flirting (which is a great pastime of mine).  When the tournament was over The Youth Director kept telling me I should go back to her house with them (a full 2 hour drive from my house).  I really wanted to go but was pretty sure my mother would object.  The Youth Director and I found a pay phone (yes, this is old school) and she called my mom.  Somehow she convinced my mom that I should go to her house and spend the night (crazy negotiating skills by The Youth Director).  Interestingly, The Older Man offered to ride with me because I didn’t know exactly where I was going and it was getting dark.  This made me very nervous.  I did like The Older Man but I was sixteen and let’s be honest, had no real experience at all.  In the car we talked and he held my hand a little bit.  We met everyone at the church where The Youth Director had to wait for some people to be picked up.  While The Youth Director was waiting for pick ups I took The Older Man to his house to get his car.  Then I followed him to The Youth Director’s house, on this short ride I got more and more nervous.  I just knew something was going to happen and I didn’t know how to react to it.  When we pulled into The Youth Director’s driveway I think I stopped breathing because no one was there, it was complete blackness.  As I got out of my car, The Older Man was walking around to my car door.  We exchanged a few words, he basically had me pinned against my car and then he kissed me.  It was oh so sweet.  I’m not sure I could have imagined a better first kiss.

Here is a poem I wrote for him while he was away at college and I was at home:

How I long to be with you
How I wish that you were here
If only just to see your face
and know that you are near
Not near like parents who are always there
but near enough to know you care
Near in heart, soul and mind
but not near enough to make me blind

The letters you write are so sweet and funny
I wish that you were closer so the skies would be sunny

I say I miss you very much
and just hope you do the same
but if you don’t it’s all my fault
and I’ll take the blame


Obviously things didn’t last long between us.  He was so much older and I had so little experience with relationships.  It was a very innocent, sweet relationship but I wasn’t ready for anything serious and he probably didn’t want anything serious.  I’d have to say it was the perfect first fling.