April 2004

Gillian Woodburn • Life Changes

After my rock climbing experience (see my previous journal entry), I noticed I had one missed call on my cell phone. It was from my oldest sister, Hilary, a senior at Oklahoma State University. My sisters and I hardly ever call each other, so I figured she either couldn’t get hold of my parents for something or had big news. It turned out to be both. She’d tried to call me because the line was busy when she phoned Mom and Dad earlier. The big news: She’s planning on getting married in December. Of course, I knew it was coming, as she’s been talking about getting engaged for a while. But, it was still a bit of a reality check to hear the news.

Change is looming for me, too, as I’m starting to look for places to live next semester. Yes, the end of February is pretty late to start looking, but this is all new to me. Unlike my sisters, I didn’t join a sorority. They both moved into the sorority house after their first year, as my mom did when she was in college, so they don’t really have any advice to offer on finding a place.

The original plan was to live with my current roommate and one of her friends. But then I found out that Kendra (my non-engaged sister who’s a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln) was applying to dental schools a year early, and Iowa was her top choice. If she did end up getting in here, she wouldn’t know anyone else to live with, so we’d be roommates. But she’s still on the waiting list here and at a few other places, so I’ve started looking for apartments with Arielle, my rock climbing friend. We’ve got a few places in mind, but trying to find somewhere nice, close to campus, and within our price range is going to be tricky.

It’s so hard to think of my sisters and myself as adults. Growing up, we were always "The Woodburn Girls.” We’re each a year and four months apart in age, so whatever they go through, I can expect to experience in a year or two. Now Hilary’s graduating and getting married, Kendra’s only a few years away from becoming a dentist, and I’m searching for my first apartment. I see why my parents are a little unnerved; I am too.

Even being so close in age, my sisters and I don’t have all that much in common. We don’t look alike—Hilary’s taller and thinner with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, and Kendra is about my height with wavy brownish-blonde hair and light blue eyes. None of us wears the same size clothes, although we do take the same size shoes (which is convenient, but leads to some problems). Hilary, the interior design major, is the most artistically inclined. Kendra and I are both scientific, but she loves biology, which I’m trying to avoid at all costs. We got along fairly well growing up, but we had our battles, especially when we got into junior high and high school. I still have visions of Hilary casually strolling into my room, then grabbing a fistful of hangers from my closet, running back into her room and slamming her back against the door to keep me out. (She always had a mean streak.) I think the fact we’re in college in three different states has been beneficial to our relationships. We can get along really well for a few weeks at a time.

Still, it’s hard to imagine us living completely separate lives, starting our own families and our own jobs. They say that children grow the most when they’re toddlers. Physically that may be true, but what happens in my family in the next two or three years is going to be major. I think I’m ready for it. I better be—I don’t have much time left to procrastinate.

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