26 memories for 26 years

in honor of my birthday today, i am going to share 26 memories from my last 26 years (in no particular order):

1) i peed my pants when i met cinderella at disney world. it's true. i no longer cringe when i hear this story. it's somewhat endearing..

2) i broke my finger on the playground at school in the third grade and my mom made me practice for my piano recital anyway. the recital was supposed to be the next day and i had to do a run through at the church with my piano teacher. mom thought i was just making excuses - she knew i hated those recitals. after my performance though, mrs. coffman noticed that i missed a lot of my lower notes in the left hand. that is when we looked at my hands and realized that my finger was green and purple. oops.

3) i got black-balled from theta chi in college. it was greek week and sean and i had been fighting something fierce for who knows what stupid reason. katie and i had gone to KA to cheer on our sisters at chandeliers and katie convinced me to walk down the street to apologize to sean. i hated the fighting, and i missed my friend, so i went. theta chi was hosting the horse shoe competition in their back yard, so that's where we headed. as soon as i came around the corner, will (president at the time) asked me to leave the premise. he said that i had disrespected a brother and had been black listed. luckily sean and i patched things up, haha.

4) in sixth grade we had a candy table that we set up at the end of the school day. i had bought some gobstoppers for a dollar on wednesday before going to church for kids club. i then sold the candy to some poor defenseless third grader for five dollars. most people would celebrate such a victory. i, however, cried. i felt horribly guilty. so guilty, in fact, that by the end of the program i gave the $5 back to the kid, even though she had eaten all of the candy already. so in the end, i had no money and no candy. awesome.

5) on a mission trip in rural ohio, carl roeger somehow tricked me into climbing on top of a two story house to do some roofing. i have a horrible fear of heights, so on work day number one he had me carrying packages of shingles from the pile to the ladder. each day he coaxed me a few more feet off of the ground until by the end of the week i was at the peak of the roof. i may not have completely conquered my fear of heights, but i did conquer my fear of that roof that week.

6) for my birthday one year when i was really young (kindergarten? 2nd grade?) my parents converted our garage into the party palace. there were games and food and even pin the tale on raccoon mario that my grandfather made for me. i still remember the scavenger hunt all over the yard. i thought our yard was HUGE then. i also remember receiving hair scrunchies from a certain boy and all of my girl friends snickering about it.

7) one winter in high school it snowed so much and got so cold that we didn't have school for something like a month straight. i remember one day my brother sliding down all of the ice in our back yard and then not being able to make it back up the hill. i ended up throwing a hammer or something down to him so he could pierce the ice and make foot holes to climb back up to the house. we spent all winter sliding down that hill and climbing back up. i also loved ice skating around on our back porch. that was an awesome winter!

8) my dad had a lot of sinus issues when we were growing up due to the chlorine of the school pool next to the choir room. because of this, even in the dead of winter, my friends and i would sit on the stairs outside and paint our toe nails. just the hint of the smell of polish would send my dad over the edge.

9) "playing" theta xi while pledging my freshman year of college. we ran back to mccuskey, drenched in water in the middle of a freezing cold night and i returned to my room with icicles in my hair. i was so afraid to comb my hair for fear that it would break off with the ice.

10) taking the "scenic route" with heather and chandra around town in high school and bowing to four chimneys, haha

11) fighting with kelly. man, we sure did know how to fight... but somehow we ended up stronger in the end.

12) speaking of kelly, i will never forget the random road trip kelly, carrie, and i took to pennsylvania to track down a certain boyfriend who didn't show up for his scheduled visit and wasn't returning phone calls. who knew we could arrive at our destination without any directions and even convince that teenage boy to let us on the boat trolley thing and take us to the island. then walking around the island while kelly and her boyfriend had a little "talk". fun times haha

13) singing "home among the hills" for the last time with the concert chorale. and i use "singing" lightly, since i think i cried the entire time and barely sang a note.

14) singing "home among the hills" for the first time at freshman orientation. my mom was sitting next to me crying. i made fun of her, but she assured me that the song would come to mean something to me one day.

15) the first dilworth refugee retreat. jenny and sally were so gracious to invite us out for an escape from the hell which was our lives at the time. i don't remember much from the actual weekend - i think my heart and my head were far too distressed and i have blocked all memory of the particulars, but i will never forget their kindness and support at a time when i felt like my world was ending.

16) the days of red lipstick at sephora. we had a manager once who made us all wear dark red lipstick every day at work. i felt it to be cruel and unusual punishment at first. then i came to love the red. sometimes i missed it...

17) dancing around mike's living room to "world swirl" after a night of fun with good friends.

18) my first 4th of july in charlotte, complete with a riot right outside of the window where monica, kara, katie, and i were celebrating.

19) not really a memory, but a non-memory... i cannot for the life of me remember who was my first boyfriend. i know that it is one of two guys, but i can't remember who was first! i dated one guy one year, and the other the next. i've wondered at this for years now. i hate my lack of a memory!

20) the day i found mr. darcy on the internet. yes, i fell in love online... kara promised me a cat for my birthday and i found one on the animal control website. we went in and there he was. three hours later, i had adopted him and he was headed to his new home.

21) after a truly horrible day at work, i came to katie's house (it was before i moved in and it became "our house", which was before she moved out and it became "my house") and laid my head in her lap and cried my eyes out. this was when i knew we were true friends.

22) trevor and nicole's wedding. truly the most beautiful wedding i have ever been a part of.

23) my grandparents used to spend their winters in florida, (because that's what all the great old ohioans do!) and gramps would send trevor and i hand drawings while they were gone. i wish i had kept more of those...

24) the day that sydney alexis cox hinkle was born into this world. chandra called me before school that day to tell me that she didn't need a ride. i called her between almost every class that day to check in and see if sydney was here yet. i skipped the wrestling meet that afternoon to go to the hospital and welcome our beautiful angel into this world.

25) playing with my cousins at my grandmother's house in reynoldsburg. we would turn her closet into the "chrishavannon cafe" and serve food to all of our family. we played the always incredible out of tune piano. we made forts out of walkers and blankets. we would sneak up to the upstairs bedrooms and guess at how old everything was. and we can't forget...using the groundhogs as target practice with the bow and arrows.

26) hearing my beautiful niece, zedica, sing "happy birthday" to me over the phone yesterday :)


so there you have it, friends. 26 memories for 26 years. thank you all for making it a life worth remembering!!

greensboro grasshoppers game

i wasn't paying attention to the beautiful men scouting the players on the field in front of me. no, sitting in front of me were three older women sharing a bag of peanuts and they held my attention.

they were dressed so sweetly with khaki capris and flowered tops. they talked and laughed and cheered for every run. i couldn't help but think of "a league of their own" and picture these women out there on the diamond in their younger years with tom hanks screaming "THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!" from the dugout.

it really was a sweet moment, and i just thought i would share it with you.