Some things don’t change.

Do you ever have those moments where you recall something a few years back, and think, ‘Wow, things have really changed!’?

For awhile on Facebook, everyone was posting ‘25 things’ about themselves. I hopped on the bandwagon sometime in January 2009. I took a look over what I wrote three years ago, and it was interesting to read what my 2009 self had to say about…well, myself. So many massive changes have happened in my life over the last few years that I had to peruse through some photos from around that time to be reminded just where I was back then.

Oh, yeah. My past life.

I don’t look at photos from that life much anymore. I’ve learned (thank you, two years of therapy) that living in the past inhibits one’s joy in the future. Maybe I’m finally in a place where I can appreciate the different chapters in my life now, because while some of the photos stung (ouch), there were some great moments captured that made me smile.

In January of 2009, I had just turned 34 (a baby!). Things were far from perfect, but I had no idea that later in the year, my life would change drastically. I was smiling while shoveling snow with my dog, Zamboni, while my then-husband recuperated from a broken shoulder.

I was bonding with my close friend’s first baby (she now has two kids), hoping it would be my turn soon. John was clean-shaven. And I had bangs.

See? So much has changed!

I’m in a completely different place in life now, so not all of my ‘25 things’ feel relevant anymore. But some of them still describe me at 37 the same as they did at 34…

I can’t wink. I find it extremely charming and practice often, but still look like I’m having a stroke. I can, however, do the flaring nostrils thing, wiggle my ears, roll my tongue, and raise only one eyebrow a tiny bit.

I love milk. Ice cold lowfat organic milk. I drink a LOT of it and make obnoxious, satisfied, “AHHHH” noises after I down a glass. Mmmm.

When I was in high school, a friend and I kept LOVE lists and HATE lists of things we loved and hated. Hundreds of things! I figured if my Love list was longer than my Hate list, I was ok. (Almost 20 years later, still ok.)

I drove a ’71 Beetle for 10 years and miss it every single day.

I know every word to Baby’s Got Back. Amanda does, too.

I love false eyelashes. I find them quite glamorous. My grandmother wore them and was quite glamorous in her day. My requirement on Halloween is that my costume must include eyelashes.

I believe good music sounds better on vinyl. Every time.

I think Superbowl Sunday should be a national holiday. It is for me.

I took 15 years of piano lessons. I used to sneak into the music department at my college in the middle of the night and try all of the doors to unoccupied piano rooms until I found one that was left unlocked, just to steal an hour of music here and there. (I only got caught once.)

I believe the pig IS a magical animal, and that bacon really does make everything better.

I started reading when I was just 4 years old. I read every day. My favorite books are biographies or based on true/historical events. (Adding ‘read 20 new books’ to my Life List was kind of a gimme.)

I’m really afraid of trains. Even on tv or movies. It wasn’t always like this. Subways are the worst. Typing about them is making my palms sweat.

Moving to Colorado from California after high school felt like the worst day of my life but turned out to be the best thing I ever did.

I think laugh lines are beautiful. 
(And not just because I am starting to get them.)

It’s amazing how everything can be different, while so much stays the same. I wonder what life will be like three years from today.