#DefineMe

Who are you? How would you define yourself? The first word that comes to mind is mother, I am a mother first. I am blessed to have my top hashtag be #mommy. Of course I have other traits, responsibilities and interest that make me, me. 

I love TV and my DVR, I get excited about the fall and holidays, and really enjoy a good bottle of Chardonnay. I have been known to talk too much, desired to be the center of attention, and been the first one on a dance floor. I am a woman. I am an Amazon Prime member. I find online shopping much more efficient than hitting the stores, but once I am actually in a store I feel happy and excited. I am competitive about unimportant things. I crave to be fashionable and admired for my look. I believe in Jesus and rely on him every day. I want to more prayerful. I am hard on myself and others. I can be selfish and mean. I can also be kind and giving. I like consistency, I am not big on adventure and spontaneity. I have been with the same employer for almost 15 years. I appreciate my job and career.
 I am a wife and proud to carry the name Mrs. Bollon. I am a child of God. I am a product of growing up in an alcoholic home. I can be funny. I am rough in the coordination department. I didn’t believe I could be athletic until I actually started working out. I want to write fulltime and yet I don’t make a lot of time for it. I am an only child. I am a Yankee, born and raised in the Northeast. I am getting better about speaking my truth.  I love to take quizzes (think personality, relationships) and play games like “what if…” with my friends.  I get impatient about the silliest things and need to slow down. I want praise from peers and loved ones. I was born on a Sunday. I will travel to Ireland someday. I love wearing boots, they make me feel sexy. When I try to be sexy, there is nothing sexy about it. I think I give good advice. I love my family.  I am thirty-something and remember watching the show “Thirty-something” when I was twelve. I love pictures and videos to recall memories made. I sleep well at night.

Who am I? It can’t be summed up into one word or paragraph. I am a lot of things and I am changing all the time, hopefully for the better. So I will take my  #mommy and add #workinprogress.

Music = Memories

I just finished listening to “The Highway Don’t Care” by Tim McGraw and the song conjured up sweet memories of our most recent vacation. Mental pictures of being on the boat, wind blowing my hair, the sun setting and glistening off the ocean with a drink in my hand. I love how music can put you right back into a time and place.

James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” puts me back around the 4-H campfire and “After the Lovin” by Engelbert Humperdinck makes me fondly recall the day Mike and I moved in together. The song was playing on the radio as I was unpacking my clothes in the bedroom, full of excitement for our future. Anything by Dave Matthews puts me back to my college days, along with Hootie & The Blowfish, and Live (“Lightening Crashes” is amazing). “These Are Days” by 10,000 Maniacs brings me to the memory of senior year in high school, sitting in the auditorium and watching a slide show of pictures as we got ready to say goodbye to that chapter in our lives. Hall & Oates reminds me of driving in my dad’s grey work van. “Last Dance” by Donna Summer reminds me of singing and dancing around the house with my mother. Tiffany and Debbie Gibson remind of my youth and having my friends over as we sang along to their songs in my basement.  “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5 reminds me of my fleeting moment of “fame” and filming a TV pilot.  Alicia Key’s “No One” conjures up the memory of driving to the food tasting for our wedding, the anticipation of planning the big day and becoming a wife.. “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars brings up feelings of pure and tender love. That song was popular when my daughter, Audrey was born and I would listen to it as I took her for walks and sang it to her with tears of overwhelming joy in my eyes.

There are so many songs and so many memories I have attached to music. Most of the memories are sweet, some bittersweet. I am grateful that I not only have pictures to help tell my life story, but lyrics and melodies to also create snapshots of what once was.