Day 03 – Your parents, in great detail

my mom was born in england and came to america with my nana and grandfather on a boat in 1955. the only british thing about my mom is she tends to say "bloody" this and "bloody" that. she grew up in alexandria as an only child and went to high school at tc williams, where eventually my sister and i both attended. she then went to college at university of miami, where she met my dad. my dad was born and raised in the suburbs of chicago. he was the second of four brothers -- 3 of them close in age and my uncle drew was a surprise 8? years later. my dad went to a small college that ronald regan attended. in fact, he got an award for beating ronald regan's swimming record in the early 90's.

my parents were married at the national cathedral in DC, summer 1975. it sounded very fancy. rolls royces and everything!

after my parents married, they settled down in alexandria and eventually bought the house i grew up in. they were married for seven years before i came along, and five years later, my sister was born. my mom was very strict with me growing up and my dad was pretty indifferent.

my mom used to have really long hair. my dad's hair was short and they both have brown hair. my mom has green eyes, my dad and sister have blue eyes, and to keep it interesting, mine are hazel.

holidays were very important growing up. i think my dad's favorite was thanksgiving. cooking the turkey, making the sides (i miss his mushrooms), and generally keeping us starving until we gorged ourselves on the feast. yummy. hands down, christmas is my mom's favorite. gifts from santa were placed ever so carefully under the tree and unwrapped. the "big gifts". my sister and i would sneak downstairs and open our stockings.

we ate a lot of ground beef growing up. hamburger helper, meatloaf, spaghetti, hamburger helper, meatloaf, spaghetti, and chinese food.

my mom has worked for the world bank forever... over 30 years. my dad worked at rec centers. he was really into swimming/lifeguarding/etc. it was nice when i was little because we could go swimming for free.

in 2003, my parents got divorced and i've been estranged from my dad since then. it was a messy and sad time. he's remarried and living in arizona. my mom has become much more laid back after the divorce and i consider her one of my best friends. we're very close. i love the way she laughs. :)