25 Years in the Life of Emily

Today I am 25 years old. A quarter of a century. In honor of that, here is a summary of my life until now.

February 17^th, 1986: I was born.

            June 23^rd, 1986: My future husband is born

May 6^th 1987: My reign as the youngest child came to an end (the shortest reign as youngest child in the Novak family). Battle Emily vs. Theresa begins and will last until college. Though we fight like crazy, we also defend each other against mean kids at school.

September 1991: My first first day of school. I have Mrs. Alexander for kindergarten. My love of school and learning started here.

1992: Mrs. Woody, one of my all-time favorite teachers, is my first grade teacher. As is the Novak tradition, I get my ears pierced for my 7^th birthday.

1993: 2^nd grade. I have my first crush, first pair of glasses, and when I grew up I wanted to be everything I could think of (to name a few: actress, chef, president, world traveler, author)

1994: 3^rd grade. I get the worst haircut in my life. It is a boy haircut, yet I’m pretty sure I kept it for a couple of years. I don’t know what I was thinking, and looking back I have no idea why my mother didn’t intervene. I guess she believes in letting her kids make their own mistakes. This is one I learned from, and feared making again, and I let it grow out and didn’t cut it again until college.

Throughout elementary school I became involved in dance, soccer, and softball. My love affair with reading began and grew. I loved reading series, especially Nancy Drew, Boxcar Children, and Babysitter’s Club.

1997-1999: Middle School.

In 6^th grade I read Number the Stars which is still one of my favorite books. I was in my first play, “It’s a Wonderful Life” and thus began my acting career. I was still convinced of becoming an actress at this point, and had a role in every play performed at the middle school during my time there, save one. For the Wizard of Oz I did the sound. In 6^th grade I also met my 2 oldest friends, Emily Powell and Julie Fox. I joined youth group and became actively involved during both middle and high school. Epiphany Youth Group is probably a huge part of why I studied theology in college.

During the summer after my 7^th grade year I went on my only mission trip, to Chicago.

During 8^th grade I got contacts, and finally started looking slightly less geeky and somewhat more normal. The summer after 8^th grade I went to the big Stubenville conference in Ohio. Oddly, I remember ankle socks were a big east coast “trend” that people claimed would soon be hitting the Midwest (apparently we still wore tube socks all the time), and I scoffed at that. Of course, now I can’t imagine not wearing ankle socks.

2000-2004: High School.

            Freshman year I had one of the crappiest lockers in the whole school, so I got to share with my big sister who was a senior at the time and therefore a million times cooler than me. Sharing a locker with her I figured I was cooler too, but in reality I probably wasn’t. I did marching band for the first and only time, and started running cross country which unlike band I kept doing throughout college. I even lettered my first year at the very last race of the season, one of my most memorable and proudest moments.

            Sophomore year I turned 16, and eventually got my license after failing once. Yes, that’s right, I failed my driver’s test the first time I took it. After taking it the 2^nd time I thought I failed again but miraculously passed. At some point in my early high school career I also got braces. From the moment I got them I couldn’t wait to get them off. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen in time for me to do my senior portraits and my braces are immortalized on my parents’ wall. As much as I disliked them, they were still more fashionable than that boy haircut from elementary school.

            During the summer between sophomore and junior year (summer 2002) 3 major things happened. I had my first job (at PEI, where I continued to work for a total of 6 summers), I had my first boyfriend (for 3 whole weeks, definitely a high school relationship), and I went to World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada, which was an amazing religious experience for me and was also where I met Eric.

            Junior year is marked mostly by my relationship with Eric, where we dated for 4 months, broke up, and went to a slightly awkward prom together.

            2003-2004 was my senior year of high school and exponentially more memorable than junior year. Eric and I rekindled our romance (which is way more poetic than just saying “we got back together”). He also gave me what I still consider one of the best birthday presents ever, my ice skates. Also during my senior year my last sibling was born. I got accepted into the 2 colleges that I cared about (St. Ben’s and St. Kate’s) and after much deliberation chose St. Kate’s. I failed my first and only test, in calculus, but still managed to get a good grade in the class. In the spring I choreographed and performed my senior solo for Dancin’ Feet. Finally, I graduated high school.

2004-2008 College.

            College at St. Kate’s is practically a blur of memories. So much happened, I grew in so many ways, and I learned more than I can ever put down in words.

            I had the requisite crappy roommate my first semester. 2^nd semester I had a new, slightly better roommate, who I ended up living with again with 2 other girls the next year. That was a mistake, except for the part that one of those other girls became one of my closest friends and we roomed together the next year too.

            I ran cross country for the first 3 years of college. I worked at the Telefund, took a lot of classes, and eventually decided to major in theology and philosophy. Also during college my first nephew and godson was born, and I finally had enough courage to cut my hair. It was much cuter than the 3rd grade boycut. I studied abroad for 3 weeks in Ukraine, an interesting choice but determined largely because there were no interesting classes in other places in the world. It ended up being a great choice, because when else would I ever decide to go somewhere like that? Furthermore, I made some great friends and had some hilarious experiences. Particularly one night at an opera house with an old lady with bad teeth…ah, memories. I also tried Nutella for the first time, and let me tell you, that was a life-changing experience. Well, maybe that’s taking it a little too far, but I really liked it anyway. Also in my college travels I took a road trip with Eric and our friend Rebecca to Tennessee to visit one of their friends. During that trip I slept in a cave one night. It was cold and damp, pretty much what you expect a cave to be like. Well worth it though, if only to say I’ve done it.

            In December of 2005 Eric proposed to me, and we spent the next 20 months planning our wedding. On August 18^th, 2007, we got married on the rainiest weekend in August. It rained pretty much from the moment we woke up on our wedding day through the first days of our honeymoon. Rain or not, it still remains one of the best days of my life.

            January 2008 Eric and I took a road trip to visit Matt and Laura in Washington, D.C. That spring I graduated from college, and the following December Eric graduated.

2008: I began graduate school at St. Thomas. Mostly that meant intense reading and writing and studying. I also started working at Holy Rosary Parish in Minneapolis.

2009: Eric and I took a “real” honeymoon to Italy in January. It was one of the best overall experiences of my life. We stayed in Rome, Florence, and Venice, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our time there. We decided, however, after traveling so many times in January, that for our next big trip we are going during warmer weather.

            In October I ran the Twin Cities marathon, and finished in under 5 hours. I may not have been anywhere near the fastest, or even the middle of the pack probably, but I ran the whole thing without stopping. I can now cross off one of the things on my “bucket list” (although I don’t call it that, I call it the “to-do before I die” list).

In December, I took one of the shortest but most monumental tests of my life. It came back positive. I was pregnant!

2010: Most of the year was spent getting fatter, preparing for a baby, and finishing my Master’s program. I finished classes in May, left my job at Holy Rosary, and spent most of the summer studying for comprehensive exams. Also in May Eric and I went to visit Maria in Chicago, and in July we took a trip to California for a wedding and for a vacation before the baby came.

In August I took one of the longest and most monumental tests of my life, the MAT comprehensive exams, and I passed. Whew. I received my diploma in December and am officially a Master of Theology.

On 8/18, Eric and I celebrated 3 years of marriage together. On September 4^th, 2010, another one of the best days of my life, my daughter was born and I became a mother.

2011: Today, 2/17/2011, I am 25 years old. A quarter of a century old. 25 years ago I was born, and now I have my own child. I feel as if things have come full circle, that I am in a new phase of my life. This is a good time to reflect on that phase, to look back at all I have done and to look forward to what I still want to do.