photos

Here are Tyler and me, sleeping over at our grandparents, pre-loose girl era.

My father and I when I was twelve.

That’s me, my father, and Tyler. I was twelve, almost thirteen. Look at that feathered hair!

A blurry picture of the GW Bridge, taken from my bedroom window when I was a teenager. That bridge symbolized a lot for me – all those lights and the cars zooming across. It seemed like the pathway to possibility.

This was taken in Fire Island, when I was sixteen, during the same weeks I met Justin and his friend. Just a normal girl…you’d never know what she was dealing with just by looking.

I’m eighteen in this picture. Not sure what happened with my bangs. This was taken in my apartment during the summer the Jennifers ex-communicated me. I don’t look very happy, despite the forced smile.

Three years later, back on the same deck in Fire Island. This is when I was there with Eli. My shirt says, “Women hold up half the sky.” I was so determined to convince everyone around me I was strong. And I was in some ways, but not in the essential ways that really mattered.

That’s Eli and me on the right (on the left are my father’s father and Tyler). I had to distort Eli’s face to protect his privacy, but, believe me, he was hot. He probably still is.

I was in my mid-twenties here. Sorry the photos are so blurry once transferred!

Michael and me on my thirtieth birthday. We were engaged and without children, so this was before the children stole our youth, as he says. You can see why I fell for him. What you can’t see is what a spectacular person he is.

My two boys with me