Who I was and Who I am

(inspired by Karin)

Eight schools by the ninth grade. So often in the last few years, I brought this up as a way to explain how I was unhappy about something. I think, really, in the end, it's more about how it effected me. Some of it made me happy. Some of it made me sad. Some of it made me very cautious about becoming close to people. But it did mean I was changed because of it. Good or bad, changing schools that often made me someone I wouldn't have been otherwise.

I was born in St. Louis, MO. My parents bought their first house (Criterion) and we lived there until I was 2. It was a small starter home. I have no memory of it, but we remained close with our next door neighbors so we did go back to see it occassionally. Our next home was Cristo Court. My parents built that house and we lived there until I was 5. I completed kindergarten there (half day). I remember friends and neighbors. We lived on a cul de sac. It was the idyllic suburban subdivision. That year my father was transferred (Southwestern Bell Yellow pages) to Kansas City, KS. We lived in Oleatha for about 6 months in a rental house. It was my second school. I learned to read there and my biggest memory was that I didn't get to be the magician in a school play because we moved. We moved from Kansas to Katy, TX. Our first house was on a street named Valley Ranch (rental) in Cimmaron subdivision. I went to Cimmaron Elementary from the second half of 1st grade through the end of 3rd grade. This is when I met my best friend, Karina Whitacre, who remained my best friend long after we were both married. By the end of 3rd grade, my parents had built another house. It was a big beautiful 4 bedroom 2.5 bath with a pool. We lived on Park York in Memorial Parkway Subdivision. I attended Memorial Parkway Elementary for 4th and 5th grades. My brother, Joe, finished out 5th grade at Cimmaron and began Memorial Parkway Jr. High in the 6th grade. We stayed in this home from 4th grade until halfway through 7th grade, where I also attended MPJH. MPE was where I met Christina McFall and Wade Gross and then Memorial Parkway Jr. High is where I met Jeanne Malloy (Bristow). Junior high is one of the biggest transitions a child can make. It's very, very difficult and to make matters worse, I attended three of them. We moved from Park York to Whiteback Dr. in Westlake subdivision and I attended Mayde Creek Jr. High. Whiteback was a temporary fix for us. We lived there for 6 months and it was definitely the hardest year of my young life. The upside to that is that it's the year I met Chad Francois and he ended up being one of my best friends for my entire life. From Whiteback we moved to Williams Circle in Westfield subdivision and oddly enough (because of how the lines were drawn) I transferred to West Memorial Jr. High. It was the first time since 3rd grade that I was able to go to school with Karina. It wasn't what I wthought it would be, but there were some fun times in there too. I did happen to love the house and that made a big difference in how I felt about those years. From West Memorial Jr. High, I ended up in Mayde Creek High School. Some of the kids I went to school with from WMJH were there and some of the kids I went to MCJH with were there. I lived in Williams Circle until after I graduated from high school. I was able to attend the same high school for all 4 years and I was incredibly grateful for that. 8 schools by the 9th grade. 7 houses by the time I turned 13.

People wonder why I'm so adamant that my girls get to stay put for as long as possible. People wonder why I do the things I do. I don't know if I'm doing it right, but I do know what it's like to do it the way I did it and it just seems to me that it was an incredibly hard path to follow. I'll be the first person to admit that I had a happy childhood, but I think some of that was just having a grateful attitude early on. Life is what you make it. Just thoughts on a screen.