#medicallyblonde

[medschooltutors]

One simple way to get us back in the pink. #FridayFunny #TheBestMedicine 

[adblondie13]

1.3 Iron Age

Halfway through the third grade my mom got promoted to branch manager at the elevator she worked for. As a result, we moved to Cumberland, Rhode Island. Her position was actually in Connecticut but the drive wasn't too bad for her. The apartment was basically all could afford until my stepfather found a job. Once he did in the summer before fourth grade, we moved to East Greenwich and cut my mom's commute in half. I started fourth grade at Hanaford Upper Elementary because upper and lower elementary is a thing in New England. I soon met Mia Bucco who would be my best friend for the next five years. She's another girl who can not be explained in just a few sentences but she kept me real and sane in the midst of grade school drama and I'm fortunate to still have her number today. With Mia came a squad, the fiercest one I was yet to be a part of: Ivan Burgess, my on-again-off-again elementary boyfriend; Sam Wardell, a sweet kid whose hair made him look like a little Dutch boy; and Kristen Szrom who was as lovable as she was odd. In the fifth grade came Arden Kramer who quite frankly may have been poison to my mental health, but whom I'm glad to have been friends with. ---- After the sixth grade, we moved to Archie R Cole Middle School. It was an odd time for me since my parents were talking about moving again (which we would do halfway through eighth grade) and their was a much bigger pooling of kids. Archie R Cole was the merging ground for both the upper elementary schools in Greenwich. With the merger came Rory Cowman who managed a type of rebellion none of us quite understood, Phoebe Burton, a Brit girl who was a bit overbearing; and Melinda (Lyndi) Warburton who fostered my interest in both goth rock and show-tunes. Like I said, an odd time for me. But whose middle school years weren't awkward? Are you allowed to go to high school without first donning a full VS sweatsuit and teal eyeshadow? ---- Despite my awkwardness, I managed to grow up a little. I slow danced for the first time with Brandon Eckles (who was hot then and is hot now). I had my first kiss and my first experience being on the other side of bullying but both were petty in hindsight. I learned the difference between real friends and fake friends and how moving across the country in the middle of the eighth grade can be the best and worst thing that ever happens to you. 

[adblondie13]

1.1 Stone Age

When I was born in 1996, Clinton's Whitewater buddies had just been convicted of fraud while OJ was discussing his "not guilty" verdict on talk shows; the Trappist Martyrs of Atlas were executed, "mad cow" disease was terrorizing the UK, Resolution 986 and the Chechnya Peace Treaty were both signed; no one was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame but Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens got his 200th win after beating the Yankees; Space Shuttle STS 77 had just landed from its orbit, the FBI was investigating the Unabomber, also Alicia Machado of Venezuela was crowned the 45th Miss Universe; Steelers had lost the Super Bowl, Guatemala was beginning to recover from 35 years of civil war, and 'Twister' was showing in the theaters. But to Yvonne and Joseph Parker all that mattered was the birth of their daughter, Rebecca. ---- I was brought into the world on June 1st and taken home the next day to a small house in Rochester, Minnesota. My father was a marine in med school and my mother was more or less a social worker with a psych degree. Like a lot of doctors, my dad didn't manage money very well which was the source of just some of the problems my parents had in their marriage (to their credit though they held it together until I was two). As a baby, I accompanied them on their makeshift honeymoon to Australia and on the move from Minnesota to Arkansas after my dad graduated from the Mayo Medical School. Once in Little Rock, their marriage disintegrated pretty quickly. I was too young to recall it but my older sister was unfortunate enough to be in high school at the time and has since hinted that it was not a good era for her. ---- My dad wasn't around much after the divorce but it wasn't to his fault so I try not to hold it against him. My mom became a saleswoman with an elevator company that would later screw her over and stepped back into the dating scene (all while caring for infant me and her teenage stepdaughter). ---- She met Arkansas native Jim Phillips and he soon became a father figure to me... with a few bumps in the road here and there. The big bump came in the form of my little brother. Jim and my mom got married and have spent the last near fourteen years together happy as husband and wife. And that bump has become my best friend. I don't hate him like most siblings and have no reserve to tell him anything. My older siblings are a bit more distant but I love them and both have been a positive influence on my life: my brother's always seemed so responsible and my sister so strong. I've admired them all my life but despite having three siblings, I've been raised basically as an only child and I'd say I've been raised pretty well. Maybe, I shouldn't be the judge of that though.