1. What year were you born? On what date? What day of the week was it? Did your parents tell you anything about the day you were born?
I was born on January 5, 1971 it was a Tuesday. My mom's parents had been in town hoping to be there for my birth. They went out dancing New Year's Eve hoping the dancing would precipitate my arrival. It did not work. They headed back to Michigan on Monday, and I was born on Tuesday.
2. Can you describe the neighborhood you grew up in?
I grew up in a new development that would be representative of suburban sprawl. My subdivision was the first on the road, my house was the first on the block, but many others would follow. My neighborhood was middle class. There were many single moms, many Ford workers, and middle-class families who stayed in the neighborhood for a long time. I always felt safe with friends on the block. There was a Muslim family, although most of us were Christians. There were white and black families. Our experiences were shared. Middle class, Ford workers, working moms, and latch key kids. We all played together at the end of the road at a small playground. we had a white Chris and black Chris.
3. Did your parents have a good marriage? No. When they met they were both recovering from breakups. They found each other, got married because it was expected, had two babies and then got divorced. My mother never said a bad word about my father. That was my grandmother's job. Likewise my dad never said anything bad about mom.
4. How did your family earn money? How did your family compare to others in the neighborhood? My mother was a single mom who went to work for Bechtel, a large engineering firm. She learned data entry and other programs. She did her best. My grandparents would stay with us for a few days every month and give my mom money that they would have spent on a hotel room. Mom drove used cars that were near death. I never thought anything of it. I thought we were doing well because we got new summer clothes every year and just the right amount of Christmas presents under the tree. Come to find out, my mom was drowning in debt when she met my engineer stepfather who bailed her and us out. I would say all of us in the neighborhood were about equal except for white Chris who won a settlement when a tree fell on his leg.
5. Where did your family go on vacations? Vacations were spent visiting family. We would go to our grandparents house for a week or two, then visit my dad in Florida for a week, then my father's parents in Georgia, and then home again and maybe go camping or visit one of my mom's friends who had a lake house.
6 What was your graduation from highschool like?
We graduated on a Friday night at Eastern Michigan University. Family and friends were there and it was over quickly. Afterward, all the kids went to the river across from the Ford plant to party and talk about all the things we were going to do. The next day, we all had yellow and white rental tents in our backyard with a picnic spread with lots of family hanging out. After a few hours we would head out to the one big party.
Live events adulthood
1. Did you go to University or College? How did you decide what you wanted to study?
I did go to college. We got a new swim coach my senior year. She encouraged me to go to camps and told me I could swim in college. It was too late to pursue a bigger college, so I looked for D3 schools to attend. I was on my own filling out paperwork and applying to schools. In AP Biology, we learned about sea lamprey and the havoc they were wreaking on the great lakes. I, and numerous other gen xers, decided to go into marine biology. I had taken biology in 8th grade, 9th grade, and as a senior. When I had to take it my freshman year of college, I decided I hated it. My friends were all in education, so I joined them.
2. What was your first job? What did you like or not like most about it?
I had always had chores but never got paid to do anything. My high school boyfriend's family owned a flower shop, so I worked for them. I made flower arrangements and met kids from other area schools. I expanded my world. I went to school in the suburbs where our sports fields were surrounded by corn fields, these new friends lived in the city with no corn in sight. I loved getting money of my own, to spend how I wanted. It gave me freedom.
3. What makes your spouse unique?
I met my spouse at a summer camp. He was teaching CPR for the staff and alluded to many jobs he had held like commercial fisherman, park ranger, coach. I thought he sounded interesting. He was active and presented an adventure. His confidence was unique. It could be taken as cocky, but he laughed, he never put anyone down and was always open to listening to others.
4. Do you have children? If so, how many? When were they born? How did you decide on the names? What's your favorite story about each child? Yes, I have three children. They were born in 2002, 2008, 2010. They are even babies. My oldest was named after the mountain my husband's family skied at for generations. We were also married at the base of the mountain. My middle son is named after my husband which is weird reflectively. We never thought of naming our first son after my husband. My daughter's name came about randomly. I wanted to name her Lydia, I just loved the name, and it is similar to my mother in law's name, Linda. My husband did not agree. We kept thinking. I was visiting my MIL's house and saw a sampler with the name Jessie Campbell. I loved the name Campbell. That was the one we agreed on.
5. What's the most memorable family vacation you took? In 2015, we took a family road trip to Disney. The drive itself was memorable. None of the children slept the entire way to Florida. We stopped off at my Grandparent's house in Barwick, Georgia where I spent every summer when I was a child. The house has been converted but the fields were still there, and the clay was still red. We visited my cousin who showed the kids a hillbilly reception. We made it to Florida to an all-inclusive resort where we had an amazing time. Of course, we went to Disney and Wet n Wild. It was an odd circle of events. My dad used to drop us off at Wet N Wild for a babysitter while he worked.
My own questions:
What obstacle did you overcome that gave you strength
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