20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood. 21. Describe your relationship with your parents.

20. Significant memories from childhood:

1. When I was eight I got together with my neighbor Sherry Cochran to put on a show. We called it "The Best Clowns that Ever Were Clowns" and we painted our faces and made a big poster then tried to get our parents and neighbors to watch. We put the show on in the driveway. It was not super successful in garnering a large audience but boy did I have fun doing it. It's the first play I remember putting on.
2. When I was graduating from 6th grade my dad couldn't attend the final performance and graduation ceremony because he had to go on TDY (Temporary Duty) for work. I was crushed. The morning of the concert I found a little white box with purple tissue paper poking out and the cutest little stuffed owl you can imagine inside (Peabody the Owl was school mascot). There was also a card with a poem written by my dad expressing how much he wished he could be there, how proud he was of me and how he would try to be there for more things in the future. I was so touched by this gesture that I wasn't mad any more. I still have that owl. 
3. When I was in 7th grade I was cast as Lillian in Cheaper By the Dozen at my middle school. This was my first speaking part (I had three lines) and I got to lick a giant lollipop while on stage. After the first performance I went around saying, "I have found my profession," to everyone who would listen. That was mortifying to me for many years after but thinking back I should have listened closer to my heart and not felt bad for expressing the utter joy I'd had in performance. That joy hasn't gone away. I still feel that every time I put on a play. 

21. My parents: 

• My father has always been an inspiration to me. He is fun and funny. He read to me, exposed me to science and science fiction, and to fantasy. Many of my preferences for food and entertainment come from him. He showed me that my life was up to me: how I lived it, who my friends were, what I did with my time - these were all things I had control over and they were my responsibility to maintain. He made his jobs into a career that he could be proud of. He filled a traditionally male role in a traditionally male job but somehow I knew that he wasn't a traditional guy and that I could do those things, too, should I want to. My feelings for my dad aren't very complicated. I love him, I admire him, I want his approval and support and I want to share my life with him.
• My feelings toward my mother are more complicated, though no less warm and fuzzy. Mama always put her kids first. Always. She also filled a traditional role but she was never a traditionalist. She was the cool mom who loved rock and roll and MTV and wanted to play the drums but was forced to play the clarinet. And that's often the role she's played in her life, as far as I can tell. She had big dreams that weren't encouraged, and have often been discouraged or flat-out denied. But no matter how frustrated she's been, she's always made me feel that she'd never have chosen to be anything else first than my mother. Now that I am a mother, of course, I can see that she wanted more for herself. Now that I am a mother, I can also feel what must be a fraction of the pressure she did to conform to someone else's ideals of motherhood. And I'm making different choices than she did. Some of that is because I saw things about her life I didn't want, but mostly it's because I saw her bucking establishment from within. She swears. She makes fun fashion choices. She wanted me to be an individual and showed me by example that even if you don't get everything you've hoped for - you need to put your whole self into what you do. And she created a safe place to be myself, to bring my friends, to want to stay even as an obnoxious teenager. 
• I think it says a lot that I actually like my parents as people and I believe they like me.