The Town That Made Me

Isla and I are half way done with our visit to Oregon. It has been such an amazing trip. This is the first time in seven years we have been home for longer than a week. It is so hard when you move away because you have to do a years worth of visiting in a week so it is always such a marathon, but this trip I feel like we have actually had time to breath and enjoy our time. I left Eugene when I was 21 years old, but it is amazing how being back home takes you back to a place in time where you realize all of the things in your life that made you who you are today. My first "real" job waiting tables for senior citizens, places you would drive on a Friday night, bowling alley where I took my P.E class, and even my old Mustang I had bought when I got my first real job when I was 18 drove past me on River Road last week. I hadn't seen that car since it drove out of my parents driveway when some guy in Springfield bought it off of Craigslist and then I saw it cruising down the road with a young girl driving it. A part of my wanted to speed up in my SUV with carseat in the back and see who she was and take a look back at my early 20's, but the other part stopped at the yellow light and had a good laugh that my old mustang was still making a 20 something happy. No matter how long I live away from Eugene, Oregon it will always be the town that made me into who I am today. The little crazy things like compulsive recycling and the sudden urge to humm the melody da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na da-na-na-na-na-na-na every time you see green and yellow. At the end of the trip I will post all my favorite pictures, but here is one from this weekend now. Speaking of the town that made me, here are a few of the most important people in my life that made me who I am today.



My Dad will forever be surrounded by girls :) Ashley, Amalie, Abbie, Emily, Isla, and Cindy



Another group shot minus Mom plus Kayci