My first day
‘Mike and Martha had this fantastic joie de vivre; they still do. I always tell them that when I am their age, I want to be like them.
The following day I could properly see the awesomeness of the house; it was a bright summer day, the pool looked amazing. I could not believe I would live in a house with a swimming pool, let alone a horse!’
Here I am with Mom the morning after I arrived. I felt comfortable there straight away with these new people; I'd just met them, but I felt a strange familiarity with them. I think you can tell by my face how comfortable I was.
You aren’t the only one wondering what’s on my neck… did I actually think it was flattering?
Giving myself a pass, though, this was twenty-six years ago!
Important introductions…
‘I met the family’s two dogs, Scarlett and Isaac, a black and a tan Labrador. Isaac was a puppy and was the sweetest; he almost knocked me down when he came to greet me.’
Isaac was cute, wasn’t he? That photo was taken the moment Isaac came to greet me, the morning after I had arrived to the house that would be my home for a year.
Snowed in
‘My favorite moment was one morning when I was ready to get up at 6:30 am to go to school when Mom came in to say there was no school that day because of the amount of snow there was on the ground. I could not believe my ears. I went back to sleep feeling like the luckiest girl alive.
When I woke up, we had breakfast, we made a snowman, and then we did the coolest thing ever. Sue and I skied down the hill of the house for a while. Sue had all her ski gear, I used Mom's, and that is what we did; I know I didn't dream it because I still have the pictures.’
My Eighteenth Birthday
‘We had my birthday cake at the house. Chuchie baked me a cake. She had made a pink cake in the shape of a flamenco dancer surrounded by many pink and white flamenco dancer cupcakes with candles, I loved it. Olé to Chuchie!’
Wow! now that I am looking at it, I see how much effort Chuchie put into that flamenco cake, I feel so thankful!
Chuchie is still kicking twenty- six years later, she is one tough cookie!
The room
‘They showed me my room; they had decorated it with a small Spanish flag and a flamenco dancer figurine. I loved the gesture and I loved the room.
As soon as I arrived I put some pictures of my family and friends on the side of the mirror. That together with the Spanish flag, the flamenco dancer figurine and the old small TV that I never turned on, gave the room a cool eighties vibe I loved’
This picture is from 1999, but it could just as easily have been taken in the eighties, right? I loved this room…
The Prom
‘Of course, the photocall moment, as we would call it now, was pretty embarrassing.
Imagine Mom and Dad taking pictures of my date giving me the corsage and me putting the boutonniere in his pocket. My hands were literally shaking while he looked at me tenderly.
It must have been hard to watch, but the embarrassing moment was totally worth it.
I was on cloud nine!
After taking like a hundred pictures, we went to the Prom, not in a limousine like I had seen in the movies but in Sue's car.’