More blasts from the past

I started looking for pictures to make Brittanie's senior page for the yearbook and came across a couple of pictures that just made me smile.

This was Tom's 1972 Mazda pick-up. His parents bought it for him to drive when he was 16 and we bought it from them when we got married. I can't find the before pictures of it but this was definitely the "after" picture. They put a new paint job, upholstery, and carpet on/in it when his parents bought it. He changed just about every part on that truck somewhere along the way. He drove it 300,000 miles. It was a GREAT truck. But it hated me. I will never forget when we lived in northeast Columbia and Tom was carpooling to Flextronics in Great Falls with a guy named Rob. Well Rob drove one morning so I drove him to the gas station to meet Rob. I didn't even make it a block from the gas station and it died on me and would NOT start. I waited until I thought he was at work and then called Tom. He had to borrow Rob's car and drive all the way back to Columbia to rescue me. I had just tried again to start it just 2 minutes before Tom got there. Tom sat in it and it started right up. GRRRRRR After that I just left the truck at home and rode the bus to work. But Tom drove it from 1986 to 1992 when it threw a rod and he even debated on dropping another motor in it. Ultimately we just bought a new truck. But he did think long and hard about putting a new motor and continuing to drive it. He loved that truck.
This is my mom and I when I was 17. Mannnn I wish I looked like that again!! I was in LOVE with Dan Marino...thus the shirt. By the way, that was a youth large! Look at that tiny arm. Can you believe those jerks at my high school called me fat back then? I should have punched them in the face. My bottom lip looks funky because I had just gotten back from a trip to Holly Beach and fell asleep in the sun and my bottom lip was one huge fever blister as a result of it. It was awful!! The camera washed out my face but you can look at my arm and see how dark I really was. It was great!
Here is a picture of Brittanie when she was 11 taking her belt test. She was obviously a yellow belt here but was testing for the next one....I think it was orange? Anyway, she got all the way to purple and then started cheerleading and had to stop but she misses it.