Goal for 2018 – blog more consistently! Kicking that off by sharing five things you may not know about me. Usually I share about fashion, my kids, and products I’m using/loving, so I’ll try to stay away from those topics!
1. I met my husband online.
This is a fun one that a lot of my IRL friends don’t even know! I joined a totally sketchy (AKA free) dating site soon after finishing my bachelor’s degree, I wasn’t really looking for a husband, just to get out of my bad habit of dating the same horrible guys. Kyle had also joined the same site and he was definitely dating more intentionally than I was! No second dates for him if there was no future. I messaged Kyle because his profile had proper spelling, punctuation and grammar! After he messaged me back we became friends on Facebook and chatted there for a couple days before meeting in person. After that first meeting he went back to the condos where he lived and told some of his friends there that he had met “the one”. He worked a sales job at the time that had him working Saturday’s and off Tuesday’s so he took me on a day date that next Tuesday and cooked me filet and potatoes on a tiny grill in the park! While he was dating intentionally and felt serious about me from the beginning, I was in my own little world of dating guys for fun and not ever letting things get too serious. At one point he asked if I would be his girlfriend and when I was like “ehhh, I don’t love titles…” he just said “OK, but I’m going to call you my girlfriend.” Haha 🙂 Eventually I realized how special this man was and started to settle down, but he still caught me off guard when he proposed after only dating (and knowing each other!) for 5 months. But I said yes, and we got married 4 months after that. Seven years later I am so thankful and give God all the glory for bringing us together! I have friends who met online before that was even a thing and they always used to say “a friend set us up, God’s our friend!”
2. I was homeschooled.
Yep, homeschooled alllll the way, K-12! I’m sure my “homeschooler” shows sometimes, but for the most part people are surprised when they find this out. I actually really loved being homeschooled and the fact that it allowed me to do so many other things because I wasn’t at school all day. I had a cookie business when I was in middle school, I played two instruments, and I read a ton as a kid. I was in homeschool co-ops, youth group, and community theatre, and had different circles of friends in each. At 14 my family moved to Uganda for a year, something made much easier by the fact that I was homeschooled. At 15 I started taking college classes at our local community college. I definitely don’t think homeschooling is for every kid or mom, but I loved it and am going to try homeschooling my kids. My husband had a great public school experience so if homeschooling doesn’t work for us, we have no problem going the public school route!
3. I think I’m an extroverted introvert.
I love gathering groups of people, knowing people, being inclusive, etc… but I also have social anxiety and love my alone time! I have always loved inviting people to do things, including lots of people, knowing lots of people, connecting people, etc… What I lacked in that most of the time was deeper friendships, accountability, etc… I developed a close friend in 2016 and loved the friend and the friendship but a series of disagreements caused that friendship to end last year and throughout that “breakup” I saw how far the other direction I had gone from my norm into an extremely exclusive friendship. As soon as I realized it, I was really disappointed in the way I had been acting towards other people, and I saw how reliant I had become on that one person instead of relying on God. Now in 2018 I’d love to find some balance between the two extremes because I really did enjoy and benefit from having a close friend, but I also always want to be true to the fact that I love gathering all sorts of people together and knowing people both similar and different from myself.
4. My first real job (like, with a paycheck!) was at 13.
I started out as a bagger and cart pusher at a grocery store and worked pretty much all the time since then. I worked at several restaurants, from pizza joints to fine dining. In high school and college I worked at a senior center – as a home-based aide where I had a bunch of regular clients that I would clean house for, and as a fitness specialist where I manned the fitness center and taught chair exercise classes! After graduating from college I continued to waitress at a fine dining restaurant until I got my first (and only) “big girl” job, at the college I graduated from in their marketing department. I worked there until I quit to stay home with my babies! I always thought I would have a “career” and there was a time I thought I would for sure go on to get my master’s degree, but now I can’t imagine doing either of those things!
5. I loved politics when I was in high school.
I went door-to-door for my local congressman, was in a “Young Republicans Club”, and went to speech and debate camp one summer. I loved it all and thought I always would. Well – fast forward 10+ years and I would definitely say I am an Independent, and I really don’t get involved or keep up with news or politics at all beyond voting.
Did any of these surprise you or resonate with you? Leave a comment!!