Me@20

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of an organization all of you have never heard of: The Association for Personal Historians (APH). For the past ten or so years, off and on, I’ve wanted to start my own company publishing people’s personal histories. Then I found out that the idea wasn’t original—an organization for it began when I was still a junior in high school (1995)!

To celebrate today’s twentieth anniversary, the APH has decided to start a marketing campaign called Me@20. What we want everyone to do is post a photo of yourself at age 20 and answer a few questions, telling us what life was like when you were 20. Funny anecdotes are obviously encouraged. The goal is for Me@20 to go viral today! Make sure to tag some of your friends and include the hashtag #APH20.

Let me start:

1.      Where I lived @20. I lived in Los Angeles County, being a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On my 20^th birthday, which was March 1, 1998, I lived in the mansion of a well-off member of the Church in Diamond Bar, California. (One of these days I’ll find photos I took of the mansion and post them. I’m not exaggerating—it was a mansion!) However, then I found myself in the ghetto-ish cities of El Monte and Baldwin Park before I ended up in Chino by the time I turned 21 in 1999.

2.      What I did @20. I would get up at 6 a.m. every morning and either study scriptures by myself, study the Missionary Guide with my companion, run around to different areas to get supplies to other full-time missionaries, or hold/attend early-morning district or zone meetings. At 9:30 a.m., we would leave our apartment and go proselyte, mostly “tracting” (knocking on doors). We’d teach people the gospel at every opportunity and baptize converts, returning to our apartment by 9:30 p.m., with lights out(ish) at 10:30. Whereas most people dread Mondays, full-time missionaries look forward to Mondays—that’s the one day a week we didn’t have to start proselyting until 6 p.m. I would sleep in until 6:30. We’d get laundry done, write letters, play basketball, and rest.

One day, while in Baldwin Park, my mother sent me a package of brand-new white shirts. The “white” shirts I still wore were stained from bleeding backpack straps and black and maroon belts. Against my nature, I decided to take part in an apostate missionary tradition—I burned my old shirts. I put them in a pile on the apartment balcony and lit them up. For a minute, I suddenly realized the stupidity of what I had done, but I managed to keep the fire contained until it burned out. When it was over, I disposed of the ashes. I never got called out on the carpet by our landlords.

3.      What I dreamt @20. I dreamt of home. No, seriously. I once dreamed of the day I could call myself a returned missionary. Other than that, I don’t remember my dreams because shortly after my head would hit the pillow, I’d find myself waking up to the alarm in the morning. I’ve never slept like that since returning from my mission.

4.      My favorite song @20. As a full-time missionary, we weren’t allowed to listen to non-mission-approved music. When I was 20, Enya was approved. That year, my favorite song was undeniably “Memory of Trees” by Enya. To this day, it still reminds me of El Monte, and I still get nostalgic over my mission.

5.      What I wore @20. Proselyting clothes consisted of a white, short-sleeved Van Heusen, a conservative tie, black slacks that could handle proselyting but wouldn’t work with a suit, and tracting church shoes—Doc Martens were not allowed on my mission. Every day.

6.      Whom I loved @20. I’ve loved only one woman my entire life; however, that year I received a letter that was kinda sorta a “dear john.” In the letter, she mentioned her “boyfriend” and then I didn’t hear from her again for many months. I humbly told myself I was happy for her, and I focused on preaching the gospel. The next year, I received a letter from her suggesting she was still single—living in Utah and going to school. In 2001, I married her. I’ve been happily married to her for the past 14 years.

7.      What made headlines when I was @20. A little blue dress.

#APH20

  

I encourage everyone to read the posts of the following personal historians: 

Clinton Haby at http://www.storykeeping.com/me20/

Jennifer Korba-Gill at http://storyboxmovies.com/news/

Emily Koppelman at https://rainmakervideo.com/me20-sky-high-beauty/

Dave Bloom at http://www.milestonesandmeanings.com/#!me20/c114h/555c8d480cf298b2d3cf351d

Your turn! Please answer these questions!

1. Where I lived @20:
2. What I did @20:
3. What I dreamt @20:
4. My favorite song @20:
5. What I wore @20:
6. Whom I loved @20:
7. What made headlines when I was @20:
‪#‎APH20