01/17/2026
Jumping on this #2016 trend though it’s likely a bad idea as AI steals my face, my info & knows how I voted... 🫣
2016 was the year my niece was born! I became an or Kiki as my niblings call me! My own kiddo turned 6 that year, and I was finally coming up for air enough myself to be of support to my (who I held has a baby) through her & periods. She got to be my pregnant model for one of the MaMassage classes I taught that year, which was sweet! We took walks & talked about momming.
My love & I were two years into to our now-dozen year relationship, not co habitating yet, but we got to travel to New Mexico, the first trip I took as a mom without my kiddo (who had a great week with grandparents) It gave me a moment to breathe and reconsider aspects of my identity aside from those as a parent and professional.
Looking at these old photos I'm’noticing how much more makeup I wore at 38 than I do now... later during the pandemic, working from home during the pandemic I just completely stopped wearing makeup and taking better care of my skin - now late 40s and rocking my fresh faced cleangirl aesthetic!
The last two slides show the literal beginning of the end... as me and my kiddo went to vote for "th“ first female president of the US!" (”he's ’roblematic I agree, but we all know the alternative has been a literal nightmare). The last slide is a cheat since it is not 2016 but is from Jan 21, 2017 - as I shed tears on the way to the protest the day after his inauguration.
I may have more wrinkles now but I still conserve my energy for things I care about- supporting womenshealth reprorights and all the other things we are fighting to preserve in this insanity in which we live.
I know 2016 posts have been a mix of nostalgia and messages back to our former selves (reading a lot of "it ge“s better" and ”eeling a lot like "it go“ worse” - not for me personally but for all of us in this country and world) but while I may have had less wrinkles, more energy and more hope back then, I am good with the way 2016 me was living her life. She was doing the best she could, and I stand by her ❤️