My life [annotated]

A week ago, by God’s grace, I turned 23. I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but so far it’s been pretty good. In order to celebrate, I thought of 23 things I’ve done in my life (listed in no particular order).

Taken ice skating lessons*Become part of the National Bone Marrow Registry donor list*Ran over a snake and a squirrel and hit a deer with my car*Accepted a marriage proposal*Became a Christian*Spent two nights in the Malaysian rain forest*Got stung by a jelly fish*Accepted my dream job*Ridden in a carriage through central park*Steered a 134ft boat at night during a thunderstorm*Won runner up in a beauty pageant*Cut my own bangs*Spent 2 months tenting for a basketball game*Bought a car*Won a hula hoop contest*Graduated from college*Fell down an escalator*Got baptized*Hit my own mailbox on my way out the driveway* Filmed a documentary*Run a triathlon*Worked at the same camp for 7 summers in a row*Bit the head off of a dead fish

When I think of all of the things on that list and all the things I’ve left off, I feel pretty grateful :)

So lately I’ve been sleeping in later than usual, 1) because I’m tired and 2) I’ve gotten my morning routine down packed and don’t need more than a half an hour to execute it. Anyways, I’m not even sleeping in that much later. I used to wake up at 7:10 and now I wake up at 7:30, not a big deal right?

Well then tell me why every morning at 7:25 my dad comes into my room and asks me if I’m going to work that day.

What?! When have I ever just not gone to work because I slept all day? I’m just trying to understand the precedence for this comment. But the clincher happened yesterday when I emerged from my room at 7:35 only to pass my dad who said, “oh good, you’re going to work today”.

Did I miss something?

This picture was taken a year ago. The caption was, “before graduating…”

Then we took this picture, labeled: “After graduating!”

A year later, (this past weekend), we took this picture at the engagement party of two of our good friends:

We’ve survived our first year of “the real world”! God has been so good to all of us. Special thanks to Davina and Ruthie for being 2 of my only friends to graduate with a Bachelor’s of Science (interestingly enough, it wasn’t until the day of graduation that I noticed that most of my friends got a Bachelor of Arts so we couldn’t sit together during the ceremony :-( ).

I stole the last pic from Davina but I’m sure she would be fine with it.

Congrats to the Duke class of 2010, you’re almost there! And to the class of ‘09, happy 1 year anniversary :)

Why did you put a “Baby on Board” sticker on your car? Does it mean that I should be careful not to hit you because you have precious cargo? Well I consider myself to be precious cargo as well. I sure as heck don’t want to be hit by another car. Should I have a “Esi on Board” decal so people drive carefully around me? Or a “I just bought this car and I’m 4 months away from having a 5 year clean driving record and I want to get a discount on my insurance” sign? Why should you get dibs on all of the attentive drivers just because there’s a baby sleeping in your backseat?

The other way to look at this would be to say that those people are bragging about their baby. I mean, people brag about their university, their honor roll student, their dog that’s smarter than your honor roll student, the fact that they vacation in the Outer Banks and the fact that they like the number 26.2. Maybe “Baby on Board” is just a way of saying look! I had a baby, I’m cool. In which case, that’s fine, just don’t expect me to give you special safety treatment on the road.

And that, ladies and gentlemen is my unsolicited opinion of “Baby on Board” signs. Because I know you were dying to know.