The Growing Years

Back in the day, I was known as the Old Lady of the group and then as the KIA.  Today I am still the Old Lady in our crowd but being pregnant you lose brain cells.  So until tonight, I thought the Kristel Intelligence Agency was out of commission for good.  That was until I was talking to Scott when he and Stacy were planning their seating arrangements.  Liz earlier in the night had told me Kevin was attending.  However, Scott had not heard this little fact and the KIA was back in business.  It's amazing how many useless facts I can store in this brain of mine.  I guess that's how I managed to spend $40K on a degree like Sociology.  Good thing I managed to make a lot of wonderful friendships at UNC.  At least I got something out of it! 

As we have each grown up, things have changed - burnt bridges have been mended, a man who wore my purple nightie around HJ is marrying a beautiful lady, we now teachers, lawyers, web designers, doctors, nurses, and business owners, and parents in our midst.  Who could have imagined when we were drinking on the breezeways of MoTown that we could achieve so much. 

As a sociology and history major I should have known I wouldn't get hired in any reasonable field.  So I sought out my own destiny.  Luckily it found me!  I found out in the working world that I was not a very good team player.  I learned that the corporate world was about mergers, busy body secretaries, and not a world I wanted to be in.  So I realized that my "TEAM" did have an "I" in it and that I could only fullfil my dreams by starting my own business. 

However, I would have never made it this far without the wonderful friendships I made at UNC. I realized that without friends you truly can't be successful in life.  Scott, got me through times that I thought were the end of the world (yet they were only the stepping stones in life).  Dan and Eric were always not only good shoulders, but good laughs.  Even Rob and Kevin were a good buddies when it came to it.  Dwight and Eric B. were always good drinking pals.  And the list goes on and on!

Thank You for teaching me how to be an individual.  Thank You for being a shoulder and cheerleader.   Thank you for accepting me back in the day, even when I was being psycho. Thank You for being you!