ASSIGNMENTS:
|
|
Kathleen Curry
Tacoma, Washington USA
|
|
REPORTS:
PREVIOUS NEXT
|
|
I was born on October 9, 1982, in San Francisco, CA. My parents were very young, 23 and 25, when they had me. Of my Onnie's 11 grandchildren, I was the first one born locally.
I only lived in San Francisco for the first couple of months of my life. Then my parents moved to Fremont, CA. My brother Bryan was born a month after my third birthday. The rumor is that I was not too thrilled with this. There is a story making the familial rounds that I may or may not have tried to gouge his eyes out. Had my mother not walked in at a very opportune moment, Bryan might have lived out the rest of his years blind.
My mom was a young mom, and as a result I have many fun memories with her that I might not have had if she had been older when she started her family. I remember watching soap operas (General Hospital!) and I Dream of Jeannie while playing Barbies together. I remember that I had a Mickey's Mousercise record, and she would put it on so we could work out together. When I was four she gave me a Cabbage Patch kids record player of my very own, and one of the records I got for Christmas that year was Cindi Lauper's True Colors single. I would not have been nearly as cool growing up if my parents hadn't been so young.
When I was getting ready to start Kindergarten my parents enrolled me in a local Christian school, where I would attend K-8th grades. I loved my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Woods, but not as much as I loved her son Joel. I had a very large crush on him that would last for several years. Later, when Joel lost all attractability for me, I moved on to his brother Daniel, who was in my grade.
While I was in first grade I met Stacy. I didn90- t really pay much attention to her at all until second grade, until we ended up sharing a best friend. That did not go well, and we were mortal enemies for the next two years. However, in fourth grade she and I both developed some sort of argument with the mutual best friend at the same time, and from that moment on we were inseparable. We shared a magical love for our mutual favorite band, the New Kids on the Block, as well as Elvis and the movie 101 Dalmations. It was a beautiful thing. She also became the first love of my then one year old brother, Chris, who basically spent much of his formative years trying to impress her and make her love him. Now he teases her, saying that it's her lack of love for him that prompted him to turn to guys.
In fifth grade Stacy's parents, who had been separated for years, got back together and she moved from Fremont to San Jose. In reality she was only about twenty minutes away, but it felt like YEARS. We would attend one more year of school together, but in sixth grade she would begin homeschooling, and I would begin three of the most trying years of my life.
Sixth grade sucked. I had a falling out with ALL of my friends, who in turn told my crush that I was in love with him. Newsflash, in case you weren't aware: eleven/twelve year old boys? They kind of suck. I spent the rest of sixth grade making and nurturing new friendships. This can be hard to do when there are 32 whole kids in your entire grade, and most of you have known each other since you were four. However, I became very close with three other girls, without whom junior high would have been unsurvivable.
Seventh grade was worse. My next door neighbor knew my newest crush from a stint he had done at a local public school, and told him how I felt one weekend when she ran into him at the Ice-o-plex. Oh the drama! He basically spent the next year making me miserable. It was awesome.
Eighth grade was tolerable, but I was ready for bigger and better things. Incidentally, I feel that style wise, I really came into my own in eighth grade. We had uniforms, but I rocked the plaid, pleated miniskirt and oxford shirts like nobody's business. I dyed my hair burgundy and wore my skirt with black leather combat boots and that big, clunky mid-90's jewelry. In lieu of actual black nail polish, Stacy and I used to color our nails with black Sharpie and then put a clear coat on top of that. I was so cool.
The summer between eighth grade and high school was rough. My grandpa died at the age of 85, and shortly thereafter we were told that we were going to be moving. My dad had left or lost his job, I never was quite sure, and we were moving to a small town in Washington called Gig Harbor. We rolled into town the day before freshman year. Incidentally? That sucked.
Freshman year was a lonely one. I made a couple of acquaintances, but really only one or two of those friendships were long lasting. It didn't help when Stacy disappeared off the face of the earth shortly after visiting me that February. She had been having problems with drugs and her mom had sent her to a Christian boot camp/rehab center in Scottsdale, AZ. She would remain there until the following summer. I was very lonely.
Sophomore year my parents moved us from our rental house into a tiny two bedroom, one bathroom cabin that they were going to remodel into their dream home. My brothers and I shared the Master bedroom. I still didn't have very many friends in Gig Harbor, but Stacy was back home and homeschooling her sophomore year, and things felt much more promising.
Junior year was my best year by far. I met my best friends Andrea and Laini that year, and the three of us were inseparable. That was also the year that I made the Meistersingers, my school's top choir, and we ended up touring to San Francisco for a festival. It was awesome for my friends and family back home to see a small chapter of my Gig Harbor life. I also got my first job, at McDonald's, and met Donovan, who would be a consuming crush for the next six months.
Senior year Andrea moved to Oregon, and Laini was pulled out of school. I was forced to step back and find new friendships, which was a challenge. Donovan and I began dating and very quickly Òfell in loveÓ. My choir toured England and did a festival at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where we won four out of five awards. I was accepted to Washington State University but chose to stay at home and go to community college because 17 is to young to move to the other side of the state. Donovan was going to move to Phoenix and go to DeVry, but chose to stay home because we were in love. He enrolled into Tacoma Community College as well.
The next two years were a relatively boring blur as we sunk into the pattern of work together, go to school together, hang out together. We began to plan our future wedding, and naming our future children. But pretty soon I began to get quite moody for no discernable reason, and six months after that we broke up.
I spent that break up summer doing all sorts of new things like wake boarding, clubbing and getting my bellybutton pierced. I dyed my hair pink before traveling to spend two weeks in California. When I came back I found out I had been accepted to Central Washington University, and would be moving in two weeks.
The move was rough on me. I had a hard time adjusting to dorm life. My roommate and I didn't really get along. And I was so depressed. I stopped eating. I stopped going to class. I slept. A lot. I went home for Christmas and began to hang out with a new friend, Adina. We became best friends immediately. I used to drive home during the week, skipping class, and I would stay at her house, feeling miserable about my life. Eventually, about a month in to winter quarter, my mother had me withdraw from my classes and move back home. I enrolled in a CNA class at one of my dad's nursing homes, and spent the rest of my time either with Adina or asleep.
I got a job, and my parents started fighting. My dad spent more and more time away from home, and eventually ended up moving out in August of 2003. I pierced my tongue in response. That fall I began dating Marcus, and when that didn't work out I pierced my nose. I dyed my long hair black. I was so angry. I started seeing a therapist who treated me for depression, but nothing worked. I stopped going to class and moved into an apartment in Tacoma with a girl that I worked with.
That April we were in a car accident while driving to work. We were hit pretty hard, and were unable to continue work as CNAs for quite some time. In the interim I gained quite a bit of weight and saw a resurgence of an eating disorder that I thought I had overcome. Eventually the weight of trying to pay my bills, living with someone I resented and being so GD fat, took over. I got my old job at McDonald's back and moved in with my mom in Gig Harbor. I would spend the next year drifting. I would get a job at a local hospital, the same one my mom worked at. I worked three days a week, lived at home, and began to shed some car accident weight.
I started seeing an old boyfriend again, Marcus. Marcus had relocated to Yakima, but this was actually easier on our relationship, initially. We were able to just test the waters without all the Gig Harbor/McDonald's drama. While talking with Marcus, and then later my dad, I decided to change my major to Social Work. I reenrolled at my community college and applied to the University of Washington Social Work Program. I graduated TCC in August of '06, and started UW, Tacoma, that September.
I spent the next two years in a chaotic blur. Between school full time, work three days a week, and eventually an internship, I managed to break up with Marcus, create an at time unhealthy routine with my best friend Laini, especially once best friend Adina moved three hours away, start dating Caleb, have dramatic breakup with Caleb, and land in the ER with a bipolar episode. Laini and I broke up shortly thereafter, and my second year of school I drifted along, with acquaintances and casual relationships that never became more.
I met Weezer through Facebook and began talking to him that April. About a month later I moved into my friend Angela's house in Tacoma. I finished up my internship and graduated from the University of Washington with my Bachelor's in Social Welfare June 2008. A week later I flew to Nashville, TN and met my Weezer for the first time.
Since then I have gotten back together with my Laini, gotten my first "professional" job, and begun to fall in love. Who can say what's to come next? My life has taken a path so completely unlike what I expected. I can only say that no matter what happens, I hope I am able to keep an open mind and an open heart to whatever comes my way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
