May 30/09 – Writing Class: If everything in my life that I have not written down will evaporate in an hour, what will I write down? Below is what it will be:
My name is Amy. I was born on xx/xxx/xxxx. I was an entrepreneur believing that working smart is more important than working hard. My highest values are family, friends, money, and freedom in this order.
I have 3 siblings. Julie is my older sister and she has 3 kids, all of who are a year younger than mine. Eric is my younger little brother with 2 daughters, 5 and 2. Then, my baby sister, Lisa ,has a 14- month daughter. We are all very close to one another but I am especially close to Eric since he was the designer who did all the high end custom homes I used to build.
We have the best mother anyone can ask for. Her name is Lana. My dad died when I was 12 yrs old so mom raised us alone. She didn’t re-marry until 18 years after being a widow. She is now happily married to uncle Fred.
I have been a single mother of 3 children since May 2002. My eldest child, a son, is Kel who was born on xx/xx/xxxx at 10:20pm. My daughter is Jo who was born on xx/xx/xxxx at 10:04pm. Then my baby, De was born on xx/xx/xxxx at 1am. I am very proud to have them, all very well rounded children.
Giving birth is the most painful experience I have encountered in my life but I have absolutely no regret for doing it 3 times.
One of the happiest moment among all the relationships I have had is a weekend spent in Tofino with Kam in 1996. It was my first bed and breakfast experience. I enjoyed that weekend so much that I actually thought of opening a bed and breakfast business after I retire. Walking along the very fine white sandy beach was amazing and body surfing on the ocean was a lot of fun. Kam is the wisest man I have encountered. We were together for 2 years and we didn’t fight even once. The reason we choose to stay as best friends instead of as a couple was that our highest values in life were very different. Despite this, we will always love each other and he will always be my BFF.
Erica is the friend I met when I was 13 years old and we have been friends ever since. She’s very sweet and sincere. She will always goes out of her way to help me with whatever I ask her for. I am very grateful to have known her for so many years.
Pandora is De’s god-mom who is also a very dear friend to me. I call her my C-box which stands for confessional box. I tell her more about my life than to anyone else I know. I feel like she has been my “lesbian husband without sex” all those years of going through the single parent path with me since Deon was 1 year old.
The 5 dreams I ever had are:
1. Live a colorful life
2. Never be poor again
3. Retire before I turn 40
4. Cook X’mas dinner for my grandkids and extended family
5. Live in a private island with my Mr. Right
I have achieved only the first 3 goals so far. I probably won’t have any grand-kids till for at least another 15 yrs and only God knows when Mr. Right will show up and live with me in a private island with me.
I am very proud of the fact that I was able to survive through 3 negative networth within a 10-year time frame. I believe that what didn’t break me was what made me a very strong person.
If I could do it all over again, then I would choose to delay my retirement to 10 yrs later. The situation was that if I had this opportunity to work shorter hours but longer period of time, then I would have had the chance to spend more quality time with my kids rather than just being the financial provider while they were growing up because I was working 18 hours a day.
OMG! I am so glad that this is just a writing exercise because so many more memories are popping up now as I am writing this but I am running out of time to write them all down. I certainly don’t want to lose all those that I have not written down. I love me for who I am. And I am me due to all the good and bad experiences I have had in my life. Those experiences have become memories that I don’t ever want to just disappear in thin air
I will need months to actually be writing down all my unforgettable memories. But then I wonder. Can the new “memory-less” Amy still feel what this Amy is feeling now by just reading what this Amy is writing down here???