Saturday Seven

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OK; this is a new thing I'm starting, part of that whole “blog more words and less photo dump posts” thing… the other day, while cleaning out boxes under our bed, I came across this book, List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Self-Discovery. My mom gave my sister and I copies for Christmas about a million years ago, and I never wrote a word in it… I don't even think I've browsed it completely!
So I'm going to try and respond to at least one of the list prompts a week, and I'll aim to put seven things on each list. I'm just going to randomly open to a page and go from there, so the topics are bound to seem totally random and unorganized!
There are some that are intended to be private, and not revealed to the interwebs at large, so if I come across one of those, I'll make the list on my own, but still share the prompt here.

I'd love to have you join me, if you're so inclined! Link me up in the comments!

Here we go!

List the transitions you've made in life that have taught you the most.

The transition to…

1. …being on my own. This taught me a couple of things; first off, I was newly engaged and only 19 years old… I had to learn how to be a grown-up; cook dinner, grocery shop, take out the trash… moving out taught me a whole slew of things that I still use today. Secondly, it improved my relationship with my sister a thousand fold. All of a sudden, instead of being shoved down each other's throats all the time, we had to make an effort to see each other and spend time together… it was on *our* terms instead, so it made us friends.
2. …a new job. Job and income stability is something that has always been of utmost important to me as an adult; and it has worked to my detriment as much as to my benefit. Because I'm so afraid of disrupting my income, I stay places I shouldn't. I was with Kinko's for six years; an *eternity* when the stretch of time starts when you're in high school! I took a job that was close to what I wanted to do long term, and quit the security of making copies. And then I was laid off after only 2 months. It forced me to look outside of my comfort zone for work.
3. …divorcée. I was 22 and suddenly single. He left on Dec. 23, and I was on my own with no warning; I had a rebellion of sorts then, something I had never really done… I drank too much, stayed out late on weeknights, went weeks without going home, sleeping on friends couches instead, since they lived closer to the party than I did. It's a period of time that I'm glad I survived (exaggerating a little there! LOL) and I'm glad I did it; I never went away to college, so this was my time for part of that experience, and it led right into…
4. …patient. My diagnosis with Goodpasture's Syndrome, which was finally made in Feb. 2001, changed everything about me. I was admitted to the hospital one afternoon, and stayed there for six weeks. I had to leave my job, my roommate (friends and family packed up my stuff and put it all in storage), move back in with my parents… and on top of all that I gained 150 lbs. in water weight during my six week hospital stay, leaving irreparable marks on my body, and leading to several years on dialysis
5. …kidney recipient. I hope this one's pretty obvious, but in case it isn't… after several years of viewing myself as “sick,” I twice have been blessed with the amazing gift of a kidney, first from my mom and then from my brother-in-law, Tim. This can actually be a difficult transition to make; I suddenly don't have to be in bed by 9pm every night for dialysis, I am on a strict medication regimen and lab draw schedule. Dietary restrictions are lifted (Amen!) and it takes some time to adjust to this new and improved version of me. My dad called it an “aftermarket upgrade” and I couldn't agree more!
6. …wife. Yes, I'd been married before, but this was/is completely different. I'm different (older and wiser and all that), Jamie is completely different from the Ex. Our relationship and our marriage is as similar to my previous one as creme brulée compares to a pile of dog crap. Seriously. I think I'm better at being a wife now than I ever was.
7. …mom. I'd be worried if this wasn't a major transition that taught me something! It didn't *teach* me something (past tense) It teaches me daily. Things about Max, things about myself, things about the world. (Have you ever looked really closely at a rock with a two year old? Yup.)