I'm your average American kid I think. I grew up in a tiny town called Sunnyvale, a Dallas suburb with a whopping population of 1,000. The school there had 300 students during my time--kindergarten through 8th grade in one building! Sunnyvale is just about as "country" as you can get in the vicinity of Dallas. We lived in a small neighborhood full of boys next to a pasture with horses that always ate my mom's crepe myrtles.
We were the house on the corner with the mom and dad, one boy, one girl, and a dog, until he - the dog, not my brother--suddenly disappeared on one of his excursions into the pasture behind out house. I'm the oldest by 14 months. My little brother, Brandon, is one of my best friends. But he's also not so "little" anymore. He's towered over me for some time now, but I still win tickle fights.
I started taking ballet and tap when I was 2 and finally quit when I went to college. I always wanted to be a Rockette! Of course, Rockettes are TALL. The doctor told my mom I'd be about 5'7" or 5'8". He lied! I haven't grown, at least not without the help of tall shoes, since fifth grade, and the only time I've ever seen 5'8" is on a trampoline!
I was a tomboy, and in many ways I still am. I hate nail polish, bows and ruffles. I mentioned the neighborhood full of boys, and I think this had something to do with my being a tomboy. When there are only boys around to play with, you either learn to throw and catch or you sit on the curb, and I'm not much for curbs. I love anything outside and animals. We first had fish because no one is allergic to fish. We quickly discovered that the life expectancy of fish is not conducive to the owner-pet relationship. I'm confident that Flipper, my black molly, had the most incredible fish funeral in history. We finally got a dog, Licorice was a temperamental, independent black cocker spaniel my dad brought home after work one day. He was the pasture-exploring dog. After those two traumatic pet experiences, we were decidedly finished with pets.. for a while. Oh, I should also mention that I had a T-shirt when I was about 8 that said, "Once I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken." (I still can't believe my mother actually put that thing on me!)
I loved school! Sunnyvale was the best place to be for my money - public school with private school attention and quality. The same 30 kids were in every class, the superintendent knew the good kids by name, and the cafeteria food was good! I think I liked kindergarten the best for two reasons: we had coke breaks every Friday which meant the whole class lined up with shiny quarter in hand, walked down the hall to the coke machine, retrieved our bottles of coke, and took turns seeing who could burp the loudest; and the second reason was the alphabet people. (I still remember the Mr. S Supersocks song!) I was a Bluebird which is something like Girl Scouts, and "played" a snare drum that I lugged to and from school with the help of a luggage carrier. I hated math, loved English and science, until science required math. (Funny that I'm marrying a math teacher!)
The tomboy kicked in again, and I started going straight from ballet classes to softball practice. I played catcher until I took a metal bat in the nose and retired. I've played on and off with co-ed teams at Northwest Bible Church. (My team last year lost the season championship in the 10th inning when the other team's coach knocked one over the fence with the bases full.) Now I get outside every chance I get! I think working in an office all day will do that to a person. I love backpacking, sports and basically anything else outside. Which brings me to O-U-A-C-H-I-T-A.
After high school at Dr. Ralph H. Poteet High School in Mesquite, Texas - try putting that into a cheer sometime - I headed for Texas Tech University in Lubbock. And the song is true. The best view of Lubbock is in your rearview mirror. After one year and 4 majors, I needed trees and smaller classes, so I headed for Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Say what you will about Arkansas. It's got at least one great thing to boast about, and that is Ouachita, not Bill Clinton. (Sorry Dr. Downs.) I transferred there at the very last minute as a sophomore, which landed me in the senior girls' dorm, possibly the best thing that could have happened to me. There I met some of the most wonderful and fun people I've ever known! I had a dorm mom, Mom Barksdale, and she really personifies OBU. A great place and a great education! www.obu.edu
Curiosity sent me to Austria for six months to study International Public Relations and European culture. I lived with Gerda Michel, the very best mom-away-from-home a girl could wish for! Gerda lived on the outskirts of the city with a view of the Alps out the kitchen window and the Untersburg out of my bedroom window! Talk about scenery! I went to Salzburg College where I was the only person from below the Mason-Dixon line. I never thought I had an accent until I met all those people from Chicago! That was more culture shock than listening to German all the time! The school has since moved, but when I was there it was located in the house you see in The Sound of Music! For real! I used to sit beside the lake and read. It was the greatest learning experience of my life.
With one semester to go, I returned home from Salzburg. After graduating with degrees in Communications and International Studies, I knew one thing: I was NOT moving back to Dallas. Note: Every single time thus far in life I've said over my dead body am I going to...move back to Dallas, get married, you name it, well, it always happens. So I moved back here kicking and screaming. I worked at a very progressive architecture firm, www.cra.net. Then I decided construction wasn't really for me and came to work for the architecture firm's PR guru, Janet Howe. NEVER a dull moment with Janet! She's taught me so much, and she's really a great friend. She's a hoot to work for! She heard me say months ago that I'd NEVER get married, never go on another date, and here I am. She says it's the office I'm in. The last three people in this office have gotten married. Weird. But I know that Charge is a gift, and the best one I could ever dream of his side of Heaven. (OK, if you can't stand gush, stop here.) He's the greatest man I have ever met. He is genuinely interested in what is best for me, always has been, and I can't wait to be his wife! Ooo. Still strange to say that, "wife." Charge is my hero, my storybook knight in shining armor. He's my best friend, and he still wants to marry me even after enduring the planning of this wedding. What a man! I'm so excited-not really about the wedding so much as every day after that being Mrs. Charge. I am certainly blessed!
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