Dublin, TX Pop. 3,754

We moved around quite a bit when I was a kid. In fact I went to four different elementary schools between 1st and 5th grades. In the middle of my fourth grade year, my Mom, my sister and I moved to Dublin, TX. There isn't much I remember about that place except it was small town, the lady next door died, it was H-O-T and we left like a thief in the night.

It was so small that there was one school, kindergarten through 12th grade. I think they had chearleaders in 5th grade. I think that's when I first decided I wanted to be a cheerleader, but it could have been earlier when I started gymnastics at the age of 3. The town was so small that there wasn't even a Dairy Queen and if you are from Texas or have ever driven through Texas, you know that DQ is the Texas stop sign and every town has one. I had forgotten that Dublin is home to the oldest Dr Pepper plant though. Big deal for such a small town.

All I really remember about myself at this age was that I was obsessed with braces and I loved gymnastics and dance. I had really bad teeth and always longed to get braces so that I could straighten them out. You would be hard pressed to find a picture of me smiling showing my pearly whites until I was 13 and actually got braces. During this time in my life in Dublin, I did what any normal kid did who really wanted braces. I wore Wrigley's gum wrappers on my teeth. (You know you did it too!) Boy was I cool.

We had a small little room at the front of our house and I turned that into my personal gym. My mom always told me I should teach when I got older and back then I thought that is exactly what I would do. In fact, half way through college, I changed my major to do just that, and then I didn't do just that.

The most exciting thing that I ever remember happening was when our neighbor died. She was old, in her 80's I think, but it was still kind of shocking to see the ambulance across the street and know that she was dead. I was always a little creeped out by her house after she was gone. It just sat there empty, missing it's occupant. I went to sleep the night she died with the lights from the ambulance reflecting on the back of my lids.

When I say Dublin was HOT, I mean HOT! We had one window unit in the house and it was in the living room. My mom only ran that thing if the thermometer was over 100 I think and only for an hour or so at a time. My sister and I had a routine we did before we went to bed. First we took a cold shower and then we would spray our sheets down with water from the mister and then we would spray ourselves down with the mister and then we would lay there sweating. Good times.

The only real memory I have though is of leaving. I can't remember how long we lived there, but I don't think it was long. I went to school one day, same as every other day, no reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary. I walked home from school, my teeth gleaming in all their Wrigley wrapper glory. As I rounded the corner to our street, I saw a Uhaul sitting outside in our driveway. My stomach turned and I walked slower. As I reached the house my mom came out.

"What are you doing?"

"We're leaving."

"Today?"

"Right now."

"Wah? Can't I say good-bye to my friends?" (I think I really only had one friend; it's hard to make friends when you move around so much)

"Go quick, because we need to get on the road."

And just like that, we were gone, back to New Mexico and a new school. Maybe one day, I'll drive through Dublin, TX Pop. 3, 754 just to see what it looks like now.