25 Things

1. I am not quite 5 feet tall.

2. I dislike tomatoes but I like spaghetti sauce, bruschetta, ketchup, sundried tomatoes, and just about any other tomato-based item you can imagine.

3. I used to break horses when I was around 12.

4. When I was little I would tell people that I wanted to be the fastest runner in the world.

5. I was homeschooled from kindergarten until 1oth grade.

6. I was born close to one month late but I am a fairly punctual person.

7. I rode English for many years, and I trained my 14.3 hand Morgan horse, Bailey, along with the help of my Olympic-level trainer. We won first place out of 11 horses at a dressage schooling show. College got in the way and I sold him. Not sure where he is today, but I learned a lot from him. I hope that I could someday find him and buy him back.

8. When I was about 3 or 4, I got mad at my mom. She said to me, "If you're so mad, why don't you just hit me?" I did.

9. I once got my hair cut short because I wanted to look like two other people that I admired with short hair. A little girl I was babysitting came up to me and asked if I was a boy or a girl. Have never cut my hair short again.

10. I like the number 10.

11. I played piano very well when I was younger. At my second recital, I played a 4-page version of Fur Elise to a standing ovation. The 20 other students played one-page hymns.

12. If I've been wearing socks all day, I can't wear them to bed. If I've had bare feet all day, I can wear socks to bed.

13. Before I was born, my mom had to be rushed to the hospital because I had the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck. When I was born, I was already staring at people, eyes wide open.

14. I didn't try hard enough in college.

15. In 1993 and 1994 I took Russian ballet at the Flint School of Performing Arts. My instructors name was Ms. Margaret Mead Finizio. I was selected as one of the top 3 in my division for a performance and I had an opportunity to be in the Nutcracker as one of the "party girls". I turned this down for some reason and quit within a few shorts months. This is one of the biggest regrets of my life.

16. When I was 5, I took one bite out of a granny smith apple, flushed it down the toilet and blamed it on my little brother. I finally told him about three years ago.

17. I only applied to one college.

18. The reasons I went to that college would not end up being the reasons that I would stay.

19. I'm the first person in my immediate family to graduate from college. I won't be the first to go to graduate school.

20. I met the band 'NSYNC when I was 13 while staying at a hotel for a youth group trip. The non-English speaking maid let us into their empty rooms after they left to grab whatever souvenirs we could find.

21. I didn't declare my major until my senior year.

22. I was the opening shortstop my first year playing varsity softball as a junior. I held back too much, and was quickly relegated to left-field. I took a grounder to my face that year and had to get stitches. This only added to me "holding back" and only added to me staying out in left-field.

23. In 2006 I interned for a Circulation department at a company in Chicago. At my exit interview, my boss said to me "Well, it doesn't seem like you have much of an interest in working in Circulation again." I now work in Circulation for an international magazine.

24. I was the last person to talk to my grandfather before he passed away.

25. Sometimes my horoscopes are dead on; Still don't believe them.

24 is the new 25

my mom always said that she never felt grown-up until she was 25. well, i am beginning to think that 24 is the new 25.

i went home this past weekend because my mother was diagnosed with cancer in december. her surgery was scheduled for february 6, and i knew i needed to be with her for it.

i've felt incredibly varied emotions in the week leading up to the trip as well as the trip. going home is not cheap, taking time off work is not simple, but i have never felt more at home and never felt so much gratitude to be with my family.

past trips home felt more like i was satiating their need to see me, not mine to see them. i loved them, of course, but doing things and going places took precedence in my mind. not this time. i was happy to make dinner for my family so that my mom could rest. i was even happier to sit and watch a favorite movie of theirs with my parents and my brother and his fiancee. it was quiet, it was secure, and it just was what it was. it wasn't just another trip home; it now had a limit, and it now had meaning.

while making dinner, i looked up at some little chicken figurines my mom had on the counter. one was over on the otherside of the stove, while the other two were still sitting by the mother hen. i instantly realized without asking that it was my mom's way of saying i'd flown the nest. cliche? sure. but i didn't feel scared about it because it was true: my home is in an over-priced studio apartment in DC, not the quiet farmhouse at the top of the hill in Silverwood, Michigan. things have changed, things are changing, and they will change again. this time though i was truly happy to be home, and happy that i was able to be with my family in a trying time.

Detroit I

i had an interesting plane ride home to Michigan this past weekend. the auto industry, cancer treatments, and the effect of Obama's presidency felt in a tiny town called Silverwood.

once on the plane, i took out my not-yet-on-the-newsstands-copy of The Atlantic and read about how the crash will reshape America and it's effects on the rustbelt, the sunbelt, and the suburbs. very interesting article and one that very much struck close to home with me.

i'm the daughter of a retired Ford auto-worker, the granddaughter of a General Foreman at AC Delco, and the niece of a former GM employee. i was born in a Detroit suburb and now i live in Washington, DC, where Detroit is a fumbling giant that is treated more like an embarassment than a fellow state. i could not be further away from my roots, and i feel a twinge of hurt when i hear talk of crumbling Detroit and Michigan's ineptitude in transforming itself.

there was a substantial group getting onto the plane with me. included in this group was Dan Rather, whom i assumed would be going to Detroit to interview someone in the industry. a fellow passenger in line with me said, "I wonder why all these people are going to Detroit... nothing there." this made me wonder why he was going to Detroit, but nonetheless there is something there. it hurts to realize that what was once a booming city is now being shunned by the general public for giving it what it wanted. it also hurts to see Michigan, a beautiful, truly four-season state with some of the most pristine lakes and wilderness not find a way to adapt easily to the new times. it has potential, but it will take a long time for it to get there.

i guess this is just the cycle that occurs with industry. the auto industry couldn't last forever. but how will it change?

i am interested to see what becomes of my birthplace in the next twenty years.