25 Years Later.

Peggy over at Day to Day Life of a Very Lazy Gardner did this meme and politely tagged me if I wanted to do it. I haven't done a meme in a long time, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

The idea is to list five things in your life now that you would have never thought would be in your life when you were 25.

1. Health Issues. I never thought I’d deal with the health issues at such a young age. Al had testicular cancer when we were in our late 20s, and I was diagnosed with MS in my late 30s. Weird. On the other hand, testicular cancer is curable and we caught my MS early. And although illness can be a real strain on a couple, it has only brought Al and me closer.

2. Marriage. Not only am I still married but I’ve been married for almost 19 years! I really didn’t expect to marry. Never planned it, never wanted to. I wanted to travel, work and have fun. I didn’t realize I could do that and be married at the same time. Not that we haven’t had some rough spots, but we’ve hung in there. We’re heading into another phase of our life together with thoughts of retiring from the military. Should be interesting to see where we go from here. (You may be surprised that I’m not saying the usual mushy stuff about Al. You’ll just have to be surprised because I’m not very good at the mushy stuff. I took one of those emotion IQ tests and you wouldn’t believe how low I scored!)

3. On stage. For a few years, I did a lot of community theater. I played Dolly in Threepenny Opera, I was Sylvia in the female version of The Odd Couple, I was Hattie in Kiss Me Kate, and I did a lot of acting classes where I got to do a little bit of everything from Shakespeare to improv. It was an exciting and fun time, and every time I walked on stage, I was shocked that I was actually doing this. I’m very shy, very introverted, but I was determined to come out of my shell and try it since I have always loved the theater. I had a good time, but I don’t miss it now. I did come out of my shell some, but I never really overcame a sense of not belonging there nor could I really let myself go enough to really do well. Upside though, I don’t get nervous if I have to give a presentation or speak in front of people.

4. Travel. I can’t believe the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen. I’ve always wanted to travel. When I finally got overseas, I wondered what the hell took me so long? We went to Scotland and England in 2001 and I’ve been hooked ever since. We met up with another couple for a week, but we were pretty much on our own and it was just so gratifying. Then I went with my mom and some friends and I did some things on my own and it was enlightening. I grew up a lot in those 2 weeks and re-connected with that independent woman who could take care of herself. We’ve since returned to Scotland (and will go back again and again) and we went to Italy. Italy! Oh my God I was in Italy! It’s just unbelievable. (Note: Sometime in the early 90s (I think ’93), we went to Germany to spend Christmas with friends who were stationed there. For some reason, I never think to include that in my travels. I don’t remember that trip except for some of the highlights, but I do remember feeling uncomfortable and not knowing what was going on at any time. I was just led by the hand until I came home.)

5. Techie. Well, not really a techie but I know a whole lot more and utilize computers a lot more than I ever have. Al and I sit in the living room, each with our wireless laptops, downloading photos for a DVD slideshow or downloading songs onto our iPods. I even watched Steve Jobs introduce all the upgrades to the iPhone, iTunes movie rental, and the new Macbook Air. And upon watching Jobs take that new computer out of a manila envelope, I turned to Al and said, “I want that!” It's amazing! Go over and take a look at it. I also told him that I want an iPod Touch. I don’t need the iPhone because I hate phones, but I like the iPod Touch. This isn’t like me, but Al was thrilled because he is a techie. I still can’t hook up the DVD player, but I’m great at Google.

Need an idea for a post, why not give this a try.

That's me for the week, I think. Have a great weekend!