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Birth Picture: Me and my dad a few days after I was born
I was born at 8:35pm Augsut 14th, 1994. I was a month early and my dad was driving back from an out of town event when my mom went into labor; to this day my mom claims I chose to come when he was gone on purpose (don't worry, he made it back in time). My parents had been together and cohabitating since 1985, but were not married. My parents were both 33. I am my dad's only biological child but my mother's second, my half brother from her first marriage was 11 at the time. -
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Life
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Baby Beauty Pagent
When I was one my mother entered me into a baby beauty pagent, where I took home the first place trophy for my age range, as well as the award for most photogentic (a trait that has since been lost). My first word was "Kitty", which made sense becasue we had two cats that I adored. My mom always says I was a very easy, happy baby, except that I cried a lot after eating (turns out I was lactose intolerant). I had a secure attachment to both my parents. -
Move to Alaska- Pictured: Me and my brother, age 4 and 15
In the summer of 1999 my parents got married and the four of us plus our dog packed up and move from Reno, Nevada to Juneau, Alaska, where my maternal grandparents lived. I had only been attending preschool for a year so the move wasn't very hard on me, espcially since I didn't mind playing alone. My favorite game on the ferry ride to Juneau (5 days) was to pick a random word and come up with as many words that rhymed with it as I could. -
Starting school
This picture is from my first day of kindergarten, about a month after my family moved to Juneau. I will never forgive my grandmother for making me get that haircut. I was a really shy kid, just in nature as well as from being new in town. I don't remember having much protective optimism, I tended to pretty "down to earth" for a five year old, though my favorite cooperative/sociodramtic play activity was make believe, we often imagined ourselves in the world of our favorite shows/books. -
I became an aunt
In late 2001 my family found out that my brother's girlfriend was pregnant, and the next summer my nephew was born. I would turn eight the next month. It changed a lot about our family dynamic, as I was no longer the youngest in the family, plus I had a new role in the family that was diffrent than anything I'd experienced before. I slept walked/ate at this age, we don't know why to this day. I had issues with mild dyslexia then but loved to read so much I no longer struggle too much with it -
Best Friends both move to another state
At the end of elementary school my two closest friends both moved to another state. I didn't handle it well (low resilience) and didn't make new friend for most of the next year. The my 7th grade year though I reconnected with a old friend and we became best friends for the next 5 or 6 years. Part of the reason she helped so much is she got me going to church, which really was a great support of me during those weird middle school years. This is us on twin day during spirit week. -
Travelled abroad for the first time
The summer of 2009 was a big year for me. 1. I went to my first concert where I got to meet my favorite band at the time (the Jonas Brother) and about 2 weeks later I traveled abroad for the first time, and without my parents. I became a lot more outgoing after that summer's experiences. I was 14 at this time, and had already gone through menarche (age 12). Until 16 I had really horrible growing pains that made it almost impossible for me to walk for hours at a time. -
Anxiety diagonsis
If the beginning of my sophomore year of high school I had my first panic attack. I got diagnosied with generalized/social anxiety and depression that year and started medications. It changed a lot for me, but I still struggled with it. I struggled with suicidal ideation throughout high school and into college. My personal identity (Erikson's fifth stage) was a big part of my issues. Since then I've really embraced being "different" (obviously by the fact I still have crazy colored hair) -
High School Graduation
I graduated from high school in 2012, I became my first family member to do so since the late 70s. I had a very real "imaginary audience". I was very self-conscious of everything thing I did. I was starting to come out of Erikson's fifth stage (Identity versus role confusion) but I only 17 when I graduated so I still struggled with role confusion. I did not deal with forclosure, though I definitely saw college as a moratorium situation. -
First Tattoo
I got my first tattoo as a 19th birthday present to myself. It wasn't something anyone expected me to do but I now have 5 so obviously something changed in my personaity after high school that made me the kind of person to get them. (maybe some risk taking going on there who knows) This was also the year I moved away from home and came to go to school in Nashville. -
Current Day
I'm currently 21 years old and about to graduate from college. I will be moving back in with my parents (at least for a few months) and I'm really nervous about the conflict that might come up because our family dynamic has changed. I think I've started to be a part of the more "average" attitude of emerging adulthood, with having more joy than depression. To this day haven't dated, which is why I shyed away from talking about that aspect of development, as it hasn't affected me (yet, hopefully)
