Second Anniversaries

This week is full of anniversaries: the wedding anniversaries of my parents and my sister, as well as my dad's birthday, which is today (Happy birthday Dad! Sorry, I can't think of a good song about being 65). In my own life, the 12th and 13th of August represent the second anniversary of a few important life events:

August 12, 2007
• Moving to Ann Arbor
My last season at the Ohio Light Opera ended, so I hopped in my car that was packed with my every earthly possession to make the three hour drive to Ann Arbor. I rolled into Ann Arbor at about 7:00 p.m., climbed the stairs to my new apartment, knocked on the door, and.... no one was home. I didn't have a key and at the time I didn't have a cell phone, although I didn't know my new roommates numbers anyways. I only knew one person in Ann Arbor at the time, my fellow Ohio Light Opera cast member Amanda Opuszynski, and I only knew one place in Ann Arbor, the music building at the University of Michigan. I could only think of one way to get in touch with Amanda, and so I headed over to the computer lab at the school of music.

• Joining Facebook
All summer long my friends at Ohio Light Opera had been pestering me to join Facebook but I was violently opposed to the idea. However, I was desperate to get in touch with Amanda and I couldn't think of any other way around it, so on that fateful Sunday evening in the otherwise empty computer lab, I set up a Facebook account. The first thing I did was add Amanda as a friend, and luckily she happened to respond immediately. I told her I was locked out of my new apartment and I had no idea how to contact my new roommates and she offered to let me crash on her couch that night if necessary. En route to her place I stopped by my apartment again and Seth and Todd had just gotten home from FHE. Seth loaned me his Airbed which I threw down on the floor of my new room and I went to sleep.

August 13, 2007
• Getting My First Cell Phone
For years I had also been violently opposed to getting a cell phone (for reasons I can't really even remember, although at the time I was very passionate about it and I frequently burst into big speeches on the subject). But after the misadventure of the previous evening (and many other similar misadventures over the years), the fact that my new apartment didn't have a land line, and the fact that I didn't have my own computer to use for email and my new Facebook account, I realized that I was virtually uncontactable. So before heading out to Ikea to pick up a bed and a dresser, I stopped by the Verizon store and picked up my very first cell phone. I wanted the smalled possible plan and the cheapest, lamest phone available. I got a two-year contract with the smallest plan available and a phone model that had been discontinued. As soon as I got all set up the first call I made on it was to my dad, to wish him a happy birthday.

Now that my first cell phone contract has expired it has made me reflect on my two years in Ann Arbor. The three anniversaries I listed above all seem to be very important milestones in my life: I moved away from home and lived truly on my own for the first time, but at the same time I gave into things that I initially resisted (Facebook and cell phones) in order to make myself more accessible than before. I'm so glad that I've been able to live in the magnificent town of Ann Arbor and I'm looking forward to spending one more year (and one more anniversary) here.

P.S. - I should also include on my anniversary list August 11 - the day when my friend Cecily helped me get out of my seven-year-long missionary haircut rut. We browsed through magazines, went to a hair salon, and banished the old part-up-the-right-side look for good (however, it will live on until 2012 in my driver's license photo).

[Editor's note: I just looked at the feed of blogs I follow and it lists first this post, "Second Anniversaries," and then a slightly less recent post by Amy J., "First Anniversary." Sorry Amy, I wasn't trying to one-up you.]