7 Years Ago
Posted on April 12, 2009 - Filed Under Fun, Personal, Simple Life | 3 Comments
7 years ago, I was living in the top half of a duplex that I shared with coworker and his girlfriend (on weekends) and her daughter. He was vegan and since we took turns cooking, I mostly was, too. Our downstairs neighbors had tomato plants and marijuana growing in the backyard and there were three or four mostly dead cars in the front yard (one of which was mine).
7 years ago, I got up at 6 am, made myself a thermos of tea, packed a huge cauliflower and carrot salad with ranch dressing in a sealable bowl and put on my steel-toed boots over my jeans, pulled on a coat and headed out the door by 6:30 to hitchhike down to the dock. There, I got on a low metal oyster catcher, huddled down out of the wind and had yelled conversations with my all male co-workers over the roar of the engine. It took 15 minutes to get to the building site where we worked and there I would hike up to the workshop of the million dollar house that was being built, turn on the lights, switch the computer on in my little office and settle down to work on manuals for the caretakers. At 10, those of us working in the upper part of the work site would gather in the workshop, crank the music on a tiny radio and sip our tea. At noon, I`d head out to sit on the moss overlooking the oyster farm just offshore, along with several of my workmates and eat my lunch while we chatted. And throughout the day, I would be called on to pull splinters out of hands, patch up cracked skulls and occasionally stop a finger from falling off in my first aid office.
7 years ago, I knew I was leaving the country soon. My job was nearly over, the house was done except for the finishing touches. I was selling or giving away everything I owned, breaking in my new hiking boots and meticulously planning the gear I needed to make the trip through Central and South America. I spent Saturdays with my family where I hung out with my sisters, worked a bit in the studio with my dad and eat my mom`s amazing food, and it was great.
Sometimes, coming off the boat at 6:30, I`d just head straight up the mountain and sleep out in the open for the night, roasting potatoes and toasting garlic bread over a small campfire. Or I would go home and hang my hammock out in the trees and sleep out there (yes, even in April! It had a cover to protect me from rain) for the night just because.
7 years ago today, I turned 22, had NO CLUE that I was going to meet the guy of my dreams, have kids and end up fulfilling my childhood dream of becoming a writer. And yet, today I turn 29 and here I am . . . still in Guatemala, never having made it further south, with a guy, two cute kids and a career that is doing well, despite dire predictions, and working at home . . . in my OWN home that I designed. 
And I couldn`t be happier.
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3 Responses to “7 Years Ago”
Talk to Me, People!
Happy Birthday. Kind of funny how our lives don’t turn out how we expect them to. Mine is so different than what I had planned.
Happy Birthday! Come over tomorrow and we’ll celebrate.
Aw, I missed your birthday?! I’m sorry! Happy belated birthday then!