The Countdown ~ 40 Years of Me: A Walk Down Memory Lane

Well, it is upon me, y'all. There is no denying it anymore. On Saturday July 4, 2009 I will turn 40 years old.

4-0. For-tee. Forty. 40!!!

This milestone has bothered me for quite some time now. I'm not exactly sure why other than the fact that I don't feel 40. I still feel like I'm in my late 20's to early 30's and I most certainly act like I'm about 12 most of the time. 13 on a good day. Just not 40. When I was a kid 40 sounded SO old. Now I'm screaming, "I'm young! I'm young!". Go figure.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm coming to grips with my own mortality. If the Lord chooses to give me a long life then odds are I've lived half my life. If He's chosen not to give me a long life then I've live over half my life, maybe less. Fairly morbid thinker I am, wouldn't you say? I realize that I'm dwelling entirely too much on this whole number thing and it would suit me best to just Let. It. Go. And I have for the most part.

And since I've decided to enjoy this new decade in my life and just be happy, I've also decided to share a few pictures of how I came to be the ripe old age of 40. Or mostly just to laugh at what a dork I used to look like. Either way it will be fun.

So, this whole week will be spent sharing photos and memories of me from babyhood in 1969 (wow, that sounds like a long time ago!), through the 80's where the big hair and the music ruled, all the to where I am now. A Jesus loving, blogging, photographer wannabe, wife and mother of 6.

It's all good, my friends. It's all good.

Humble Beginnings

Michelle Renee, the 5th child born to Troy and Betsy on July 4, 1969. My mother let my sisters and brother name me. My name could have been Ethel Nadine, ya'll. I do not believe I was an attractive baby.



I was a happy baby and obviously had a desire to eat everything in sight at an early age (this habit hasn't changed much). Monk says he sees little bits of Charlotte in this picture.



This next one is the beginnings of my sausage curls. I was cute and chubby at this age. Those two things do not go hand in hand once you're 40 though. Just sayin'. This is the picture where I see lots of Hope. With the exception of the fact that I did not throw fits and wreak emotional havoc on the rest of the family. She got that exclusively from Monk.



I couldn't find the picture of me in the red dress complete with knee high black patent leather boots and the sausage curls streaming down my back. Instead, y'all will have to settle for the Easter I was 5. Sausage curls, but no cool boots. Obviously I'd eaten a few too many chocolate bunnies by this time in my life. If I had one word to sum me up as a child it would be chub. I had lots of chub. What about that retro couch in the background though, eh? That's authentic 70's right there people! This was also the year that I nearly bit my tongue completely off when I slipped and fell while running at church. My tongue had to be stitched back together and they thought I could possibly have a speech impediment as I got older. ::pause:: BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!



I had the sausage curls through kindergarten and then The Shag haircut became all the rage. My mother opted to cut my curls so I could be cool. Or not. This picture is of me in first grade with my cool shag. I love the picture with the exception of that jacked up turtle neck. Would it have been asking too much of the photographer to have fixed it or to have simply said, "hey kid, pull down your turtleneck!". I mean, REALLY!



By the next year ( 1976) my mom had cut all my hair completely off. I would not regain control of it again until 1982. My walk down memory lane could quite possibly turn into a tribute to my hair I fear. That's okay though. A good Hair Anthology never hurt anybody, right?

Tomorrow? We finish up the elementary years, showing you my mother's fetish with Olan Mills and we just might make it through junior high. Depending on whether I can talk Monk into scanning more pictures for me or not!

I hope you all enjoyed the beginning of 40 Years of Me.... definitely more to come!