Family, Part 1

My mom does this thing when she laughs that is so funny and cute. Her tiny nose scrunches up and so do her eyes, until they are just two horizaontal lines on her face. She laughs so hard that she actually stops breathing. Then her hand rises and covers her mouth. And she stays like that, all bunched up and not breathing. You can tell it hurts her but she can't stop laughing like that! So my unspoken goal in life has always been to make my mom laugh hysterically. It's never hard to do, but I like to think it is a challenge.

All my life I've lived for a challenge. I guess I always wanted to do things before I was ready, just to say I did them.

I was born at 7 months gestation during a cold snowy February morning in New Haven, CT. That should have been the first indication that I was an eager child. When I was 4 years old my parents, older brother and little sister lived in an apartment in Chelsea, MA. One morning I woke up and decided it was time to explore the apartment complex. I pushed the chair to the door, unlocked it, pushed the chair back to the table. Then I grabbed my toddler sister and we took off. I even put a jacket on her! Not soon after, my family woke up to discover the girls were gone! I had also closed the door behind us.

Adriane and I ran down the hallway and to the elevators. We giggled the whole time, until dad found us. Then it wasn't so fun. I remember being in trouble and watching my baby sister erupt in giggles. She thought it was all a game. And for us, it was.