A Little Bit Of Bio Goes a Long Way…My Bio For You

I was born on Super Bowl Sunday 1985.  Bears vs. Patriots.  Ironically, I’m not the biggest fan of either, though when it goes neck-and-neck, I really do not care for the ego of Payton Manning.  It was a blustery January day and my mom was at a piano recital, which might well explain my love of music….I think she’s a musical and wonderful creature.  I weighed about six and a half pounds, not too small, not too large and didn’t cry much at all.  Dad said I was a ‘squeaker’.  Literally.  I slept well, until adulthood, and had a good Midwestern appetite.  For a while, my parents had lived in town, but moved to the country, a small farm before I was born.  Alice Graham (my babysitter) became my second mother, raised me, burped me, changed me, loved my like her own.  I owe her a good deal of my character.

So, I grew a little, had vibrant blonde curly hair and puffy little cheeks.  Blue eyes like the Great Barrier Reef blue….and I loved sundresses for the longest time, though not always by choice.  I had some great early days at Grandma’s house playing and singing “How much is that doggie in the window” while we ate popsicles and watched her big mutt, Queenie.  I love my Grandma dearly and ache to see her often.

Okay, so time went by and I went to school…never preschool, we weren’t that lucky.  Kindergarten came and went, and I never napped (stupid kid!).  But made good friends and had my first experience with diversity in the classroom.  First grade was awesome, because Josh Gooch and I became fierce rivals to see who could do the most math problems and read the most books in a year.  He won math, I won reading.  Mrs. Montoya, I remember had tall, dark and handsome sons…but they were almost nine! 

2^nd and 3^rd grades were torture, 4^th was my favorite because I was oh so good at cursive and we got to listen to Paul Harvey every day and write a summary of one news item.  We also learned to fold the flag, recite vaudeville, sing, learned a little German, and got to compete in the science fair.  The rest of elementary and Junior High was, in a nutshell, hell.  I was ugly, kind of toady and a total geek.  Always into music and that was about it, but the things that kept me sane into my later teens were a good bit of George Orwell, Leo Tolstoy, the advent of an email address, writing, learning and scholars’ bowl.

High school was kind of a breakout, where I learned it was okay to be original, individual.  Rugged individualism?  Yeah, mostly.  I wanted to be part of the crowd, but was learning to accept change.  I learned Spanish, started some undergrad gen eds and thought about dating.  Out of the question with my Dad….lucky to be the first and a girl..j/k.  It was a curse!  So, I became a sophomore and found out this guy on the quiz bowl and debate team, who was also center for the football team (we were the Jackrabbits) was intelligent, so we hit it off.  Thought it was a good deal.  After while it grew old and ended abruptly and left a vulnerable young lady kind of shocked.  So I spent the summer building houses, working at the Ag research center, bought a car, wrecked a car, started running and finally had a good figure…I also won the 4H senior sewing and modeling, rocketry, photography, cooking, horticulture, and had Grand Champion Market Steer that year.  All in all, it rocked. 

So, I then decided that running made me look great, feel great and wanted to see how far I could push it.  So, I lost about twenty pounds and had so many dates, that I thought it was making me better than everyone else….and kept it up.  I started taking diet pills the start of my Junior year, lost a whole lotta weight, and became very anorexic.  Had a few more nasty car crashes, kept dieting, was very smart in the body mechanics, but used it to my detriment.  I remember little from the rest of that year except avoiding lunch, running twenty or so miles a day, being weak, hallucinating, hiding and obsessing about everything, even the way people perceived me.  That was the biggest paradoxical thing, because I wanted to be different and didn’t want to care what anyone thought about it.  Before this I was destined for greatness, gorgeous, happy, easy-going, so smart.  But it happened.  What are you going to do?  Just live it.

It started to tear my family apart and that is the only thing I wish I could undo, so it was a tough year.  I remember the day of a track meet two months before HS graduation that my Dad had told me he was so sad that I was going to die and THAT made me angry!  So, I think that was the turning point.  After money, after shrinks, after medication, after protein shakes, after the hallucinations and the terror that was Anorexia and Bulemia, that was IT!

So, I joined the track team, went to a meet and thought I could pull off a two-miler.  After all, I weighed all of 90 pounds and thought I was IT plus a bag of chips, minus all the calories.  It was disgusting, but if that is any insight into being a type-A perfectionist, one who wants to constantly improve and be better….then there you have it!  That’s the epitome of what my life was.  And I was destined for imminent death.  But for whatever reason, I think God had other plans.  It was shortly after, my first semester alone in college, that I figured out how we can plan our lives away, but it will do no good, because flexibility and ABILITY are the keys that unlock the silos of wealth in life.

Alright.  So I didn’t go to prom that year, either.  I took to hermitized lifestyle and kept quiet, trying to not give into hunger pangs and self-torture.  Glad those days are over now!  Graduation came around and the class had elected that I sing “I hope You Dance” as our theme song.  It was pretty tumultuous as an effort, but I still had a voice…and after about two weeks of oreos, ice cream and steak trying to break the bad cycle, my voice had recouped quite well.  Triumph is what I felt inside, knowing that graduation had been reached and I would finally be free.  All I could think about was the GREAT ESCAPE!  I wanted OUT!  Out of Kansas, out of Tribune, out from under rule and thumb.  And I got that wish. 

I had accepted a marching band scholarship to Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas and left a week or two before the start of fall classes for camp.  Yeah!  Band camp J  It was not fun, because I was exhausted, but I do remember Mom dropping me off at college, helping me unpack and wishing me a nice life.  Some deal. 

So, my first experience with college was a floormate named “Becca” with a purple Mohawk and a smile that bridged the Great Divide.  She rocked!  Took me to church and we were instant friends.  I owe her for a good impression and getting off on the right foot in a new world.  I also found that I did not go ‘with the crowd’ in college and always chose a different way of life..not better, just apart from the rest.  Spent a lot of time alone for a while, getting to know my mind again, without diet pills, without any real worries about someone finding me out, because it was a chance to recreate life, per se.  So, I got interested in small groups and slowly got back to a social life. 

I took up new hobbies or recreated old ones, got back to singing in church, got a job at the local lumber yard (ironically, my two bosses were VERY strong Christians and I became a daughter to them.  I took summer classes to get through sooner and made it back to running long distances, but not for a team.   I should’ve run for the college.  Started swimming and loved it.  I also fell in love with Tropical Sno, but still had some personal interaction apprehensions.  But I was slowly learning how to be the old Cherie again…okay with being angry, great to take on responsibilities.  I taught a class at church, found another girl who had been fighting anorexia…helped her out, learned to love Division II Football, even dealt with winter okay.  I had a couple dates, but no desire to carry that any farther.  Thought it would be imprudent to try to love someone if it wasn’t possible to have self-love and self-respect first.  So I kept seeking God.  And things slowly got better.

My last summer in Pittsburg, I took Organic Chem classes and house-sat for my genetics professor who had gone to Belgium.  I also worked as a phlebotomist with plenty of overtime that summer, finally up to my eyeballs with business and ready to have a life…..this comes later after school when I try to make up for lost time!  Life was great, I moved through biochem and the rest of my pre-med coursework, took the MFT, GRE and a couple other tests.  Then, December 26^th of 2005, I moved to Springfield for clinical practicum and work at Cox Health.  That year was the most dreadful year of my life, school-wise and I would NEVER relive it, regardless of finance.  Glad for the challenge, I appreciate the knowledge, but cramming Med School and lab material into 12 months, 400-some tests, NOT MY FAVE!  I went to school in the morning, ran in the afternoon and went to work at night.  With little time to study, I was glad for a photographic and sharp memory. 

It was that year that I discovered Triathlons and that there was a network of competition.  So, I started with 5k races, won a few, did a tri on my mountain bike and won age group.  After discovering how great and empowering that felt, I was madly in love.  So,I decided to keep it up.  And I got to be a decent all-around athlete, a far cry from my upbringing.  After the stress of the day, there was nothing better than a solid hour or two of hard physical work!  So, I went on to train for my first marathon and missed it due to weather…but that was quite alright.  Ended up with a cool collection of race tees that are still in my closet!

Graduated Med Tech school January 5^th of 2007 and I got a job that day at Doctor’s Hospital of Springfield as a night shift (graveyard) Medical Technologist, doing body, chemical tests, hematology, transfusion screens, etc.  I hated the hours and missed life, but tried to live it still.  That lasted eight months, til I could not do grad school and my health was in bad shape.  I bought a road bike off a friend and took to serious training….started really winning nice prizes that summer and fall.  Ran a marathon or two, and had been dating Chris since November.  I took a job at a Pet Food Chemistry plant til that ended by default of economics……it was nasty!  But it was a j-o-b.  NEVER AGAIN!

So, I endured the hell of winter in Missouri…gonna have to get a new winter home in the South!  I switched from religiously going to the Meyer Center where people were snooty to working out at the YMCA, which I love.  I made instant friends and no longer work out alone…..so much better in the long run.  I started getting up at 5 and training hard to prepare for LIFE.  Life suddenly became more joyous and I got involved in a church, really involved.  Started playing piano and leading vocals…I take a break in the summers to train harder and relax on Sunday.  But life was increasing in worth.  I started giving more and life was even better.  I made this conscious decision one day to end it for good with Chris because I was exhausted of being dictated.  I am far too independent; just want a relationship to be a relationship, not a rule of law or series of hellish goings on.  I wanted to enjoy my life to the max and that would not have been possible if I had not left.  I also wanted the best, ultimately, for Chris…..we were definitely NOT a match.  We were not supportive of one another and I was tired of trying to make it work. 

So, I got VERY involved.  Went skydiving.  Took up managing a political campaign, being secretary of a grassroots organization, teaching classes at the YMCA or subbing in, scheduling races more often to compete and meet people, attending leadership conferences, dating again, enjoying the money I worked hard for, investing more, traveling more, giving more, loving more, watching the sun come up and go down every day….CHOOSING to be happy, empowered and original, to live like there is no tomorrow….which reminds me that I forgot to mention two pedestrian hit-and-run accidents that I was a victim of. 

Now, don’t tell me that God does not exist, because I know very well He does.  There are things he has intended for my life.  And be it short or long, I will put forth 110 percent or more, all the time.  All these things matter to me:  God, family, friends, country, citizenship, ownership, ethics, morality, financial stability, personal accountability, adventure, desire, truth, honesty, loyalty, brevity, charisma, impactfulness, fruitfulness and good stewardship. In all things, digging deeper ALL THE TIME in FAITH.

Need to note that I now understand my family and love them dearly….I realize that without them, I am nothing and have nothing….well, heck, I’m still close to nothing…..but have so many riches…..in crazy ways J