A Quarter Century in Review...

Ahh, it's hard to believe that I turn 25 tomorrow. To me a quarter of a century seems like a good time to sit back and reflect on my life so far...

March 8, 1984 at 5:32 am I entered the world. Mom says they thought if they had a girl they'd name her Shannon. Then I came out and Mom-mom suggested Amber, I'm still not quite sure how I ended up Amanda.

I don't remember much from pre-school other than being caught showing my private parts to a classmate. Our teachers had just told us boys and girls have different private parts and we wanted to know what the difference was... Sometime towards the end of preschool we moved from the city to the county. I don't remember much about the move but I remember being on Dad's shoulder during the auction and screaming "we want the land." The bidding hadn't even started yet...

I got my first kiss in kindergarten. The class lined up in the hallway to use the bathroom on the way to music class. Pete came over, got on his knee, grabbed my hand and kissed it.

I think it's fair to say I was a fairly accident-prone child and definitely had a tendency to scare my teachers and friends when I hurt myself... I broke my elbow roller skating, both of my wrists at the same time jumping off a swing, and several toes. I fell down a flight of stairs and somehow only suffered from a sprained ankle, but two days later I sprained my other ankle.

I spent the rest of my grade school days going to girl scouts, playing rec softball and soccer, playing the flute, dancing, and having my nose buried in books...

1996 was a big year for me--our family welcomed Robby and said good-bye to Mom-Mom. After being an only child for 12 years, I was ecstatic to become a big sister. Unfortunately, I also experienced one of my first deaths that year too.

1998 I made the transition from grade school to high school...a truly wonderful period in my life. I made a wonderful group of friends, learned what it meant to be a three-season athlete and experienced the camaraderie of a team. I recognized I had a eating disorder and started the long journey of overcoming my battle with anorexia. I experienced the heart-ache of a first love and later met my future husband. I set a goal to be at the top of my graduating class and achieved it.

My college years didn't take me too far from home, but gave me my first taste of living on my own, even if it was in the dorms. I made some more wonderful friends and grew in my faith. I witnessed true poverty during my service trips to Texas and Mexico. I traveled to England with school and later went to Ireland with Joe. Everyone thought we were on our honeymoon and I was convinced he was going to propose on that trip...I was wrong--he waited a couple of months.

The years post college have probably brought the most change. My dream to become a doctor relocated me to Omaha, Nebraska. I moved to a completely new part of the country not knowing a soul and found myself in a long-distance relationship for a year. I planned a wedding 1/2 way across the country and married my high school sweetheart.

We now find ourselves in Omaha and can only wonder what the next 25 years have in store for us. Let's hope for at least a pediatric residency on the East Coast and eventually some kiddos.