In the Beginning

August 1974- July 1975

 

 My parents had gone to rival high schools in central Washington state before meeting as performers at the 1974 World's Fair in Spokane, WA. I'm sure there's an 'I come from circus people' joke in here somewhere. The World's Fair has only been held in the US again once since then, in New Orleans 1984.

They dated for mere weeks before marrying that November and moving into the student housing at Eastern Washington University while my dad continued his schooling. The day after their wedding my mom announced she was pregnant, and just shy of nine months later I proved her right.

My twenty year old mother had her hair in braids during delivery making her seem even younger and convincing the nurses that she was a teen mom planning to give up her baby. Thus it was hours before she could convince them to let her hold me. 

I was named after, wait for it... my mom's high school boyfriend's wife. Yes, you read that right. But since my dad has brothers name Mike and Mark, my sister was named Marcia to make it appear we'd been named after our uncles. What my parents didn't realize is that Mark had been named after grandpa's old girlfriend Marcia. 

Many years and a dozen moves between 5 cities later I would become close friends in high school with two other girls born at that same hospital that same weekend. Fast forward another fifteen years and ten moves- I discover that another new friend was the daughter of the woman I'd been named for!

I've always found it interesting how the world brings people together, how much more connected we are than we ever realize.