I was born...

Tonight was my last Writing Class and we had to read something out loud that we had written during the semester. This is what I read:

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN and my parents divorced before I turned three. My mother went back to college to get her Bachelor’s and moved us three girls up to St. Cloud to finish her Master’s Degree. I learned that providing for yourself and having say in what your life becomes are essential to being happy. I moved to Minneapolis when I was 19 and I have been working full-time ever since. I am trying to finish my Bachelor’s degree right now.

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN My father was a Vietnam Veteran and an alcoholic. We lived in the trailer park until I was 10, when we moved into an apartment. I grew up thinking that violence solved problems. I hated the small town we lived in, so I joined the military when I turned 18. I was stationed in Afghanistan in 2001, met my husband in 2003 and got married last year.

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN. My mother and two sisters lived in Minnesota until I was ten, when we moved to Seattle, WA. There I went to high school and then college, where I majored in performing arts. I now work in the local music scene as a talent booker for several venues. Most of the guys I’ve dated have been either musicians or software guys from Microsoft. The musicians are too flakey and the software guys are too boring.

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN, the youngest of three girls. I went to school in St. Cloud and then college in Texas. I majored in engineering and went to work for NASA. I met my husband at work in 2001, and we got married in Italy in 2004. We take two big trips every year and we just built a house.

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN but I grew up in St, Cloud. I met my high school sweetheart the summer before ninth grade. He graduated that spring and stayed in town for college. I took a job in an office after graduation. We had a child in 1998 and then got married right after our second one in 2000. His parents helped us with a down payment on a townhouse as our wedding gift. He never finished his degree, but he loves his job at the local radio station. I am back working part time now that the kids are in school. We are currently saving money to go to Europe for our tenth anniversary.

This was an exercise in which we wrote small biographical paragraphs that examined how our lives would have turned out if major events had been different.