7 Up (1990)
After a few years at Beth Israel pre-school in Jackson, MS,
I started my first grade year at a new school. I didn’t know it at the time but
I will spend the next 12 years (grades 1 through 12) at St. Andrew’s Episcopal
school. I didn’t know that at this place I would meet my best friend, play
basketball and even be employed at for many summers. Besides school I have a nice,
stable family life with my two parents and my older sister. I thought (still
think) my sister knows everything. It’s kind of nice when things don’t change
much over time. Other than that I don’t really remember too much in terms of
issues or notes. I live in a nice home (the same home my parents still own) and
have a great life.
14 Up (1997)
I’ve caught the sports bug, which is pretty common growing
up in Mississippi, but people keep telling me that my obsession is even more
pronounced. Mississippi has zero professional teams and the state’s college
programs only have modest success, so that means I went around picking my favorite
teams based on seemingly random things. In the NBA I loved the Utah Jazz after
getting a John Stockton card and then later seeing him on TV. I thought (still
think) he was such a smart, amazing player and I wanted to play basketball just
like him. In the NFL I picked the Miami Dolphins because their QB (Dan Marino)
seemed to be the perfect player. While other teams were running the ball, the
Dolphins seemed to pass the ball on every single play. For college basketball I
loved Duke for winning back to back titles in 1991 and 1992. This was an
especially good year in college football as my favorite team the Nebraska
Cornhuskers won the National Title after beating Peyton Manning’s Tennessee
team. The one sport missing was baseball, but I had fallen out of love with the
sport after the 1994 MLB strike and didn’t have a favorite team.
21 Up (2004)
Junior Year at Miami University was one of my favorite years
of all time. I loved the school, my classes and I had a solid group of friends
+ a girlfriend I met my sophomore year. It had been tough my freshmen year
moving from the only place I had ever lived (Mississippi) to a medium sized
college in the middle of a cornfield in Ohio, but by my Junior Year I was very
comfortable and happy with the change. My life consisted of studying, playing
Madden, hanging out with friends and going to bars. This year I had my first
big trip as I did a study abroad program through the school of business where I
went to China, South Korea, Japan and Hawaii. This trip was truly amazing and
is hard to describe in the appropriate words. I am grateful that Miami offered
the program, my parents paid for it and my girlfriend helped convince me to go.
Also, at this time I started following politics a little bit closer. The more I
read about the President (George W Bush) and the Iraq War the less I liked. I
was convinced the rest of the country felt the same way, and was shocked in
2004 when John Kerry lost. It was strange going from not caring about the 2000
election at all to being so disappointed in the 2004 election.
28 Up (2011)
These 7 years were pretty key
in establishing my life. After graduating from college I took a job at Target
Corporation and moved farther north to Minneapolis. I will forever be grateful for
the 2 years at Target because they gave me my first job and it’s also where I
met my spouse. A 2006 date that started when we met at the Mary Tyler Moore
statue in downtown Minneapolis eventually led to an engagement (2009) and a
wedding (2010). Anyway, this time period is a little easier to look back on
because I was active with my blog (68 posts this year!). One thing part of a
post that stuck out was this: “For a
variety of reasons, I feel like my life is now focused on what I do not have
and what has been given up. M and I do not live close to our family. We do not
own a home. We do not have children. We don't even have a dog. We have jobs we
like, but I can't say that we have the absolute best career ever. We are newly
married 28 year olds, who are focused on improving our finances, job skills,
experiences and basically preparing for the next stages in our life.” One big
change we made in 2011 was the decision to move from Minneapolis to Columbus.
We wanted to buy a home, start a family and we felt like it would be easier to
do that closer to M’s family. The next step was interviewing for jobs (both of
us at the same company) and then actually getting the job. Thankfully we both
were lucky enough to get jobs (one day apart) and we made the big decision to
move at the end of 2011.
35 Up (2018)
So all the preparation led to something….no
other 7 year time period produced more change than this. After we moved from
Minneapolis to Columbus we bought a home (2012), had our first child (2013),
had our second child (2016) and had a few internal job moves (including a promotion
in 2013). Also, my life now becomes more of a “we” situation. I guess that is
natural with a family, but it is interesting to see how this compared to other
checkpoints in my life. Overall I like my job – it is challenging (in a good
way) with smart coworkers and a great work / life balance. I’ve been at the
same company for all 7 years and that comes with more vacation days and a
certain level of professional confidence. Overall the biggest thing about this
7 year time period is adjusting to being a Dad. Having L hit me hard – not in a
bad way, but just in a way that it completely changed my life in a way that
greatly exceeded other changes (graduating high school, moving, new job, etc). There
is nothing like being a first time parent and adjusting to the lack of sleep, new
schedule and someone completely dependent on you (and M). One thing I found out was that I loved being a
parent. There is a real sense of accomplishment that I get in being a father
and I can’t imagine my life any other way.
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