2002 - 30 Years in 30 Days

Ashe was born this year!!! May of 2002. My perfect furry friend Ashe that everyone thinks is evil...because he kind of is Ashe. I'll get to his story later. First of all, I would like to tell everyone how much I don't like Kodak Gallary. I have used them for years! As in since 2002. That was when I first got a digital camera so all pictures were there. Welllll, they are gone. I had to many pictures, so Koday said bye to them. Luckly I have them on my old computer that is boxed up at home. But the idea that I'm really going to go pull them for this...not going to happen. So the pictures I do have are the ones that I had printed before. I don't have any baby pictures of Ashe, so this one will have to do.

I loved my senior year of the spring. Troy had graduated and moved back home to Texas. I was left at school to have some good fun with my sorority sisters. Oh' we had fun. These pictures are so depressing b/c at the time I thought I was so fat. I would do anything to look like I did at 22 again. And I'm sure when I'm 40 I will look at pictures of myself at 30 and say the same thing. We are never happy with ourselves.

Ok - I graduated in May 2002 from Oklahoma State University with a BA in English Literature. I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. But I did know I wanted to be with Troy and he lived in Denton, TX. I was home the week before finals and all bummed b/c I didn't have a job, etc. My mom had just gotten this new catalog called Wisteria in the mail. I liked the writings and the items. So, I called and said I would like to work for them. They were based in Dallas. The call center manager, Noreen, called me back and we spoke. That weekend I made the drive to Dallas. Interviewed with Noreen...and got the job. I graduated on Saturday, moved to Lewisville, TX on Monday, and started my first job on Wednesday. It was crazy!!! I lived with Troy's parents until I had saved up enough money to get an apartment.

It was so cool to have my own place! I was so excited. I had zero furniture, so Troy's parents let me use their extra stuff. It was very nice as literally nothing in that apartment was mine besides the dishes, my computer, and clothes. Everything was his! Troy's birthday was in June (25th) and he was cleaning pools at the time for a company in Denton. He would tell me about this cat that would follow him around all the time at one location. He really wanted it, but of course...had no where to keep it. In comes me. So....for his birthday I told him he could get the cat and I would take care of it. I wanted to name him Asher, he wanted to name him Ashe and have the "e" silent so it was pronouced Ash. It was his cat...so Ashe it was. I hated Ashe for the first 2 years of it's life. First b/c he tore up everything including my hands/legs. And he peeeed on EVERYTHING. The second reason I hated him will have to wait until 2003.

My first summer in Texas was AWESOME! I loved living here and I loved the friends I was making. This is when I met Aric and Masami Overstreet. My dear, dear friends. I love hanging out with them still. Their family has grown!! But we must wait until 2005!

That Christmas was really hard on me b/c I didn't have Christmas Break like I was used to. Working for a catalog company, Christmas was our busiest time. I took at 6:30pm flight out on December 24th, spend the 25th with my family, and then took a 5:30am flight BACK to Dallas on December 26th so I could be at work at 8am. It was so depressing. I didn't like reality at all at this point.

But I had Ashe! In hindsight, things were starting to fade with Troy. We no longer had Date Parties, Football Games, and nights out on the strip to keep us busy. It was just us and jobs. There was very little to talk about. Of course I didn't see it that way at the time, we never do. My first year in the real world was complete! I had worked, gotten my own apartment, and moved out of Oklahoma. Wow - I'm tired.