Not soon after we were married, Steve and I moved to Salt Lake City for me to attend my cytology program at the University of Utah. We moved all our possessions to a rat-hole of an apartment off South temple and 8th east. I didn't think it was "that" bad until my mom came and declared it worse than anything she had lived in.
Ok...it was that bad.
I attended classes at the cytology lab at ARUP laboratories, and Steve commuted to ISU in Pocatello because tuition was cheaper with his Idaho residency. He lived with my sister and her husband Monday through Thursday, and we only saw each other on the weekends.
Our weekends mostly consisted of working at Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. Steve waited tables and I was a seating hostess...because I wasn't old enough to serve alcohol. (a child bride I was) We were poor...ridiculously poor but happy. We lived on practically nothing and survived by eating the food we could steal from my parents freezer and the free meals we got when we worked shifts at Spaghetti Factory. To this day, I can't stand the smell of Mizithra Cheese. For dates, when Steve's tips were good, we would splurge and split a shake and fries at Hire's Big H down the street from our apartment. I did my best to help with his tips by always seating his section at the restaurant. I got really good at seating him in a way that he could run his tables efficiently and quickly with a fast turn over. The other waiters in the restaurant always asked to work in Steve's area of the restaurant because they would make more money if I was seating their tables. I should have earned commission.
After I graduated and started making "big" money, we moved to a nicer one bedroom apartment off Fort Union in Midvale. It was here that Steve applied for Dental school and was declined addmission. We were devastated. Steve picked himself up by his boot straps and decided to apply to the U of U and get his MBA in computer information systems. His background in science helped his application. The MBA program was looking for diversity...a white Idaho boy with a zoology degree counts for diversity.
A year later we moved to a 2 bedroom apartment down the street (behind Walmart no less) and Andrew was born that August. Steve started the MBA program that fall.
I continued to work full time and Steve went to school. We were lucky to have Steve's cousin and his wife live across the sidewalk from us. She watched Andrew in her home and her little guy just a few days older than Andrew was his little buddy.
The next summer, Steve got an internship working for Boeing in Seattle. He was gone most of the summer. Any extra money he made was spent on plane tickets home to see Andrew and I. He left Boeing with a promise of a position after he graduated. Sadly...9-11 happened shortly after he returned home and any promise of a job disappeared.
But even more insane was the confession from my husband about working at Boeing. He hated it...every minute of it. He didn't want to work for a boss or behind a computer. Steve confessed to me that he wanted to apply for dental school again.
This meant 4 more years of school (after he finished up his MBA), hundreds of thousands of dollars in school debt, and me working full time much longer than I had ever anticipated.
Steve had to finish up his MBA before applying to dental school and the years of working full time and not being the mom I wanted to be to Andrew seemed daunting. But, I wanted Steve happy. He would (hopefully) be supporting our family the rest of our lives and I couldn't imagine having a husband come home from work everyday miserable.
So...Steve finished up his MBA.
In the year between MBA school and when Steve was accepted to dental school was really hard. I struggled to be happy. It was honestly more cost efficient for me to work and Steve to stay home with Andrew. I had a great job at ARUP working as a cytotech. My job paid very well for a four year degree and the medical benefits alone were worth working there. (Wish I had those benefits today! For example...having Andrew cost us $25 and he was in the hospital for a week. Yep, really wish I had those benefits today.) But, working everyday and feeling like I had no relationship with this little boy I loved more than anything was tough. I think this is why I truly appreciate being able to stay home with my children now. I have lived the other side and would never choose to go back.
I find my life fulfilling and satisfying being "just" a mom. (Ha ha...just. One of these days I should put together a really sarcastic resume together on what being "just" a mom entails.)
Despite our non conventional roles, Steve and I enjoyed our time in Salt Lake.
We enjoyed being a family of three and tried to play as much as time and money would allow.
There is way more detail to this chapter in our lives, but that might be a post for another day.
In July of 2003, we packed up all our belongings again and moved to Richmond Virginia where Steve would attend dental school at Virginia Commonwealth University for the next five years. Steve was accepted under the D.5 program which was for non-traditional students. Steve had been accepted into his MBA program due to his background in science, and was accepted into the dental program because he had and MBA...hurray for diversity and non-traditional. His first year of dental school was actually a trial period. If he could complete half of the course classes and receive a certain GPA, he would be grandfathered into the next years class as a first year.
When we moved to Virginia, I was almost 6 months pregnant with Carter and was looking forward to staying home with my two little boys. Because of the cost of daycare, it would have made no sense for me to work. It was cheaper for me to stay home...if you can call living off loans cheaper.
The next five years could be considered the most fun, hardest, craziest, most adventurous and fondest years of our lives. Everyone told us that professional school would be the best years of our lives. I didn't believe them. But they were right to and extent. (Life is pretty good right now!) I never knew being so poor and away from family could be so fun. It was. I will always look back on Richmond as my home away from home.
But that being said...coming back to Idaho was fantastic in itself. Different trials and stresses, but wonderful just the same.
(Except for the shopping...yep, I had to put that in.)
And yes...if you are wondering...I was blonde while in Salt Lake.
REALLY blonde.
I had a cute friend who did hair and I was addicted to getting my hair highlighted.
When we moved to Virginia, I could no longer afford my bleach habit and spend five long years growing out my two toned hair.
Many upcoming pictures of me with bipolar hair.
I have since realized that God intended me to have brown hair. And I'm ok with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment