Today, I turn 28. Happy Birthday to me and my fellow December 28th birthday fellows (I personally know 2). As you may have noted, it is in fact my golden birthday! I’m not doing a lot of special things, but there will be a specially cooked meal (thanks Mom!) with a lemon meringue pie for dessert (yum!) and a family trip ($2 a ticket!) to the UW-Madison Women’s Basketball team’s game against Michigan.
Sometimes, after especially hard years, we need a little pick me up, reminding us of who and what we are. In honor of my birthday, I’ve made a list of 28 of my biggest and smallest accomplishments throughout my lifetime, not in chronological order or order of importance.
1. was accepted to college
2. graduated from Smith College
3. Learned to play piano and baritone horn/euphonium and love them and music.
4. sold my writing to local and national publications and received a check in the mail.
5. flew home from Florida all by myself the summer after 2nd grade and caught the travel bug
6. went to Israel with my grandparents (without my parents) and had an amazing time at age 13
7. spent 6 weeks in France without anyone I knew on a summer program after sophomore year of high school.
8. changed schools three times in Middle and High school and survived to tell the tale, and even made friends!
9. freshman year of high school, I won a poetry contest and read one of my poems in front of lots of other high school poets and “professional” poets.
10. played in high school marching band and marched at Disney World
11. had a Bat Mitzvah and fell in love with Judaism
12. was brave enough to be bussed to the high school for freshman English classes in 8th grade. I took a little bus (short)! (seriously) It was a good experience but not a positive social one…
13. auditioned and was accepted into the high level concert band sophomore year of high school, much to my astonishment.
14. Went to State with my Odyssey of the Mind team in 8th grade.
15. volunteered with a peer education group beginning in 9th grade, which was as soon as I qualified. I continued to participate in peer-education organizations throughout high school.
16. peer tutored from 7-12 grade
17. tried out for the swim team when I moved to Madison. I had never tried out for a high school sport before. (I didn’t make it, but it was fun)
18. was editor in chief of my high school newspaper for 2 years
19. wrote for NewsSmith, the college relations publication as an intern
20. took a creative nonfiction writing workshop in college and rediscovered my love of writing
21. spent 3.5 months in Portland, Maine learning how to write scene-based creative non-fiction. It was amazing. Wrote one 14 page story about a labradoodle breeder and her family.
22. Studied in Geneva, Switzerland for 11 months. Took classes in French and traveled! (also lived in an apartment for the first time)
23. was bored in Geneva, so I learned how to play guitar in French, from a french-speaking teacher.
24. taught nearly 3 full years of religious school and hebrew school. Learned to love the middle school age group and have had a great time “teaching Judaism”.
25. was accepted to University of Chicago Divinity School
26. survived/passed the first year of the MA program while sick with 8 months of a sinus infection and an undiagnosed chronic illness
27. planned the logistics for 2 conferences for over 100 people without prior training.
28. planned a senior citizens summer camp experience by the seat of my pants and even had fun, sometimes.
Phrankly Phred 