I picked this up from J over at ‘Thinking Over‘, struck me as a neat idea. You go through and see where you were, and what you were doing 10, 20 and 30 years ago. I added 5 year increments, because there’s more motion to my life curve when viewed that way.
5 years ago- 2002 – I had just gotten an Americorps position as a ‘science lab facilitator’ in the same school where my mother works as a Music teacher. She passed on the job announcement to me, primarily because she missed her grandbaby horribly. We lived with her on the coast, right after the baby was born, but I moved to Beaverton with Sierra to make a decent wage after that. I was so busy in the city that we were incommunicado with the family much of the time.
I filled out the application as a lark, (science not my forte) but landed an interview. Two people made the final decision: One of them knew who my mother was, one did not. Nepotism may have tipped the scales a little, but since the monthly living stipend was $775, I don’t feel too badly about it. Left the city. Never missed it.
10 year ago- 1997– Watermark. 10 years ago today, I would be having labor induced in one month’s time, on a Monday morning, the 8th of December. I didn’t like the day very much, but the people who schedule these things don’t have a lot of room for sentimentality. Every member of my immediate family circle, from grandparents to parents to brother are all born on odd days, 17th, 19th, 11th, etc. Contractions started after I was induced, right on schedule, but they gave me a drug in the late afternoon which stopped everything.
As it turned out, Sierra put off her debut a good several hours, and made her appearance on Tuesday, December 9th at 2a.m. Her father was born on the twelfth, so it was fitting that she held out for an odd number. Three months later he would be out of our life, and she would be raised overwhelmingly as a part of my side of the family, the beloved, first great-grandchild of the fair-skinned, Engstrom clan.
15 years ago- 1992 – Ah. L’amour. Fifteen years old. That entire year I was with my first boyfriend, an identical twin named ‘Chris’. Hormones were raging. I remember long walks home from school with him, football games and dances, amusingly dramatic lover spats, and his damn brother, Adam, who was always somehow in the middle, making trouble. No girl had ever seriously monopolized either twin’s time before me, and Adam didn’t like it, not one little bit. They were a year and half older, jr’s to my sophomore. Adam went through my friends like Cheetos, which did not endear him to me any.
20 years ago- 1987– Ten years old. Fifth grade, I was a shy little goody goody, getting used to another new school. Mr. Chaffin, a very gruff and (to the student body) terrifying old fella was our teacher for all of 8 weeks before he had a massive heart attack and had to be replaced. (He lived. He may still be alive, the stubborn old cuss.) Mrs. Scarborough came to take his place. Mrs. Scarborough loved my quiet, well-behaved, academic little personality, and she set me as an example and even used my papers to correct other people’s with. It’s a credit to my classmate’s that they didn’t beat me up repeatedly. While Mrs. Scarborough felt ‘safer’ than Mr. Chaffin, in hindsight I see that she was a fairly uninspired teacher, and Mr. Chaffin with his growly, unconventional approach would have been a really valuable teacher who would have given us a hell of a year.
I missed out.
25 years ago- 1982– I was five. My parents would have been separated with a divorce pending. My mom took me and my brother, and we lived in a series of houses, (friends of hers) while she tried to figure out finances. She was stressed, but I don’t remember. I thought it was fun. I loved being with just my mom and my little brother, and I most vividly remember lying on my back in a sleeping bag on someone’s living room floor, looking at a fish-tank that glowed in the dark.
It was behind my head but elevated, 
and I stared up at the swirling colors in the dark for what feels now like a long, long time.
30 years ago- 1977– I was born in February of that year. By November I was probably crawling a lot. I didn’t talk for 14 months, but when I did, I asked for ‘Odder’, my favorite stuffed toy.
If anyone else would like to try this idea, I’d love to read your progressions.
Stop & Wander 
What a great idea. I may try, when my brain works well enough to remember actual years.
I loved your fish tank memory. I think we all have some childhood image like that, remember when little else is.
I think it sounds like a great idea and I’ll give it a go (probably soon but not today as I’ve met and exceeded my “quota” for today.) What you said about the even/odd dates for your child’s birthday struck a HUGE chord with me. My son was due on 7-1 and when he was born on 6-18 I just could NOT process it at first. My b’day is 7-31, my sis 5-15, and my mom 5-21. The even numbers now attached to my new baby did not make sense. I’m thinking it may have had a little to do with the fact that he was early and I was completely unprepared. I’m also going to blame those wacky post partum hormones. I did eventually get all straightened out in my brain. :D It was interesting to see someone else admit to preconceived ideas about (attachment to?) a date based on it’s oddness. Also? The cheeto image cracked me up.
Peace.
I never even noticed the odd even thing before in my family…hmmm. My daughter, my husband, and I are all born on odd days of the month, but they are in odd months and my month is even. Interesting to consider. :)
I was a late talker, too…15 months, and I came out with, “where’s the little dog?” Maybe I had been practicing, huh?
This really is a great idea for a post … interesting to see what people choose as their milestones. The impending birth of your child is a pretty obvious one :-), but the further back one goes in time … hmmm. Ten years from now, I wonder what I’ll remember about this year.
This was fun to read, a. I’d copy the idea, but I have a terrible memory and I’m not sure I can. Also, I’ve only been around 24 years….
Oh, one more thing. I have a friend with three siblings. She was born on the summer solstice, one sibling was born on the winter solstice, and the other two were born on the fall and spring equinox, respectively. Pretty cool.
Yeah maybe…I always think I should have taken notes of my life because I have no good sense of how long ago things happened, or how old I was…have to do some boring research to locate myself in time. But might be worth it….
Great! I’d be afraid to do this, I think. Or at least to post what my results were. Maybe I’ll do it in secret.
That was an enchanting post, Amuirin! I don’t think I’m going to try the same thing, though. I haven’t the memory for it. That is, I can recall events, but not dates.
Ditto what they said. I loved this post. I read it yesterday, then again this morning. It was melancholy in a light way. I loved the description of the differences between your two 5th grade teachers, and then how in the aftermath of your parents’ divorce, how the sleeping in her friends’ living rooms seemed fun.
The other thing that strikes me is that you’re done with the decade of your 20s. I wonder how you’ll remember it when you’re, say, in your 40s.
I like this idea too. I hope to get caught up with this and the rest of your posts in the next few days.
I’m going to try this, I think! It’s especially cool because I was born in ’77 too!
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