Anniversaries

Today's got me thinking a lot about anniversaries. My good friend at work will be celebrating 25 years with the company on Monday - now that's a long time! My five year service anniversary was last year and I thought that was impressive, but she puts my measly little five years to shame.

On June 6, 1981, I was baptized by my grandpa. I remember wearing socks in the font and thinking they felt so cold and wet (why did I wear socks at all?). I shared my baptism day with one of my best childhood friends and it was neat to do it together. After the baptism, we had a big sub sandwich to celebrate. Weren't those the coolest things to have when you're little?

On June 6, 1939 (I think that was the year, but I'm not sure), my grandparents were married. While both have since passed away, they'd been married for 57 years at the time of their death. I can't even fathom being with someone for 57 days, let alone years. On June 6, 1998, I got married to "Bobby Chevron." Does that make today my ten-year faux-i-versary? Yes, I realize my marriage lasted about a minute and it's silly to remember the day at all, but every year I can't help myself. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I never in a million years thought I'd be someone who grew up and got divorced. Granted, I don't doubt it was the right thing to do and I learned a lot from the experience, but it's still a loss. There's a part of me which will always mourn the loss of that dream. I thought I was moving forward into happily ever after and I ended up back at square one. I've been divorced for well over eight years (see, I told you my marriage lasted a minute) and sometimes it seems like I haven't gotten very far along at all....while other times it seems like it happened a million years ago. I look at pictures from my wedding and my face reflects such excitement at what was to come...it kind of breaks my heart.

Side note: Both of my brothers will be celebrating their FIVE YEAR wedding anniversaries this year. Jay & Vauri had their anniversary last month and Paulie & Britt will have their anniversary next week. CONGRATULATIONS!!! I love you!!

There's one final anniversary I've been thinking about and it actually happened last week. One year ago I got a minor concussion. Everyone always asks how I got it and my witty response is to say I hit my head (I'm such a smart ass), but the actual story is kinda lame. My BFF and I had met in Boise for the weekend (since it's halfway between us) and were eating at Red Robin when something was funny (I'm assuming) and I threw my head back in laughter. At that moment, the top of my head hit the sharp corner of the wooden booth we were sitting in. I'm pretty sure you could hear the crack for a mile (OK, I may be exaggerating there). I instantly got a migraine and thought I might die. But, it was just a stupid thing, it couldn't be anything serious, right? As I drove home I got really sick. When I got home, I slept for 20 hours and continued to sleep any chance I got for the next week. My short term memory was shot and I was kind of good for nothing for awhile. The nurse I saw said there's not much you can do except wait for the brain to stop swelling and sleep a lot.

So, that's what I tried to do. Except, then I stopped being able to sleep. Ever. I was insane. I lost my ability to filter what came out of my mouth. I think at one point it'd been three weeks that I couldn't sleep. I felt like I was going crazy. I really thought I might lose my mind. I finally found some information on something called "Post-concussion syndrome" which at least helped me feel more normal. Knowing other people had experienced what I was going through made me feel like there was some hope for me yet.Obviously, there was a change in me the past year. The concussion seemed to knock a screw loose and it's taken me a long time to feel like myself again. My erratic and sometimes shocking behavior was pretty out of character and to blame it all on the concussion would be silly. But I can honestly say I'm finally feeling more like myself again. Perhaps it just took until now for the swelling to go down? The year since the concussion has been drama-filled and interesting, to say the least. I had some health problems (bronchitis, surgery, an ovarian cyst, a staph infection, and a kidney infection to name a few), some boy problems (primarily stupid Triangle and Seattle boy), and some work problems (which I'm sick to death of talking about), but I think things are definitely on an upswing. No, my life will never be perfect and it wasn't the life I thought I'd have by any means, but for the most part I'm happy. I'm constantly trying to improve and move in the right direction. What more can you ask for, right?