I’m nearly 50 and have spent my entire life in the bay area and I’ve always been a bit… I don’t want to say “rebellious” because I’ve never burned a bra or been to prison. On the whole I’m really rather quiet and reserved – but I’ve never really followed social expectations. You know, being a girl in the 90’s your success was measured by the boxes you ticked: husband? house? kids? College was kind of a gold star. While we were very much encouraged to pursue education – by educators – it was never really “”expected”” Or maybe I wasn’t paying attention, whatever.
I was the first female in my family to leave the comfort of home to live on her own – without a husband. Every female born before me, on both the maternal and paternal sides, lived with her parents until her husband collected her. No thanks.
I went to work in a tech field dominated by Asian men. I was hired at a mediocre salary to be an assistant to those men. In my free time I researched companies that we were not selling to and I fixed that. I single handedly established a customer base in Europe, just for fun. Almost 30 years later my business cards still say “admin.”
But I’d say the thing I am most proud of? Buying my own house. No help. No inheritance. I saved and I researched. I planned and sacrificed until I bought my very own house. It’s mine. Nobody can tell me what to do, nobody can tell me how to live. It took every cent i saved – and it’s spent every extra cent since, but I proved to all the people who said I could not, I should not.. oh I can and I will!
I have spent my entire life just proving “I can” and it’s been exhausting, and being that I’m old now, I’d like to just do what I want to, without reason or cause. So, that will probably, ultimately, be what I’m most proud of at the end of it all… I did it my way.
The House of Happypants 
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