Growing up, teenage years:
*What activities did you participate in? (Sports, dancing, music, arts, etc.) Explain what you did with each activity. Ballet, ballet, ballet. I danced ballet at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Now let me elaborate on that. PNB was not a little studio located in a strip mall where you took a class once or twice and week and had a end of the year performance in a local church or school. PNB is one of the top ballet companies in the world. As a student and PNBS I was being trained to become a professional ballet dancer, preferably in their company. I had class 5 days a week, sometimes times more than one class a night. I started dancing on pointe at the young age of 11. We were expected to have our hair neatly pulled back into a bun, hairnet and all, which meant we had to have long hair and no bangs, have a clean leotard and tights and a specific type of technique shoe (ballet slipper) or pointe shoe. We had parent/teacher conferences twice a year and they would pretty much tell you if you had the body to be a ballet dancer or not. The ballet world is pretty ruthless. I danced in the world famous PNB Nutcracker 4 years in a row. Those are by far some of my best memories ever. Every year around Christmas time I listen to the Nutcracker music and still hear the counts in my head and it's hard for my body to not do the steps as well. I didn't recognize this back then, but I was pretty good. I was blessed with the right body type and very blessed with rare feet that look very pretty in pointe shoes. That being said, other girls were not nice to me. Oh, they were so mean and viscous and I thought it was because I was bad at ballet. I thought they didn't like me because I was bad. I can see now that it was jealousy but and the age of 14, you just don't understand that. Despite all of that, I loved to dance. Loved it. I miss it so much sometimes. I know though, that if I had pursued a career in ballet that I would have never met Rob and I wouldn't be able to have kids until I was in my 40's. The years I did of ballet have left me with a love for dance and the arts, something that I can enjoy just for myself and put all my emotions into. I am also able to teach ballet. I LOVED teaching my preschoolers. I loved sharing my joy with them and seeing the sweet smiling faces on the little girls and they danced and felt so pretty. I also loved when they would perform for the parents. I loved seeing how hard they worked to remember all the steps and I loved seeing the proud faces of the parents as they watched their little dancers. Many of my memories are of the years I did ballet and I am SO grateful to my mom for driving me there and back everyday and supporting me.
Ok, next queston...
*Who were your friends?
I think back to each year of high school and each year there seems to be a different group of friends. Junior and senior year I had a pretty close knit group of girl friends. We had so many fun times. We called ourselves 'The Fab 4" but I'm pretty sure that sometimes there was 5 of us haha. We also had a little group called FML....Let me explain!!! The guys we hung out with called them selves Filthy Mormon Ninjas and they would prank on the weekends. Well we wanted to retaliate so we named ourselves The Fine Mormon Ladies. This was before FML meant something much different. I loved these girls and their friendships and I have lots of fun memories and stories with them.
*Did you have a girl/boy friend?
Do boyfriends in high school even count? Yes I had a boyfriend or two. Dating was fun. I really don't have much to say about it haha. It's funny to look back and remember how serious I thought those relationships were. Silly teenagers.
What did you like/dislike about school?
To be honest, I hated high school. I loved my friends but also hated all the crap that goes on in high school. The petty drama really took a toll on me and by senior year I was SO over it. Who isn't? I really don't understand when people say they wish they could go back. I would NEVER! I did have some amazing teachers though, some that I will never ever forget. Teachers that I think about often and sill inspire me.
*What was your first paid job?
Right Start Montessori! This job sort of just fell into my lap. My little brother went to preschool there and I was picking him up one day and his teacher/the owner of the school asked me if I wanted a job that summer. I said sure! I always loved little kids and wanted to be a teacher so this was perfect. This job turned into much more then a summer job. I worked there all years of high school. It was just a few hours after school everyday but on breaks and summers it was full time. When I turned 18 Debbie would let me take over. I absolutely loved this job. I learned so much and gained so much experience. I will forever be grateful to Debbie for giving me that job and keeping me and I still think about those sweet kids and the cute things they would do and say. What I loved about working at a Montessori preschool was watching the kids learn. You would have a kid that was just learning letter sounds and by they end of the year they were full on reading. I love that. I love seeing kids learn and shine and I love that I got to be a part of that.
