Three minutes on each of these topics:

1. A lunch you loved

When I was in first grade, I had a red plastic lunchbox that had a picture of Snoopy and his doghouse on the front. It also said "Peanuts," and I didn't know that word but I recognized that there was an "s" on the end, so I told the other kids that it said "Snoopy" backwards. I took it to school everyday with the lunches my mom made for me. A sandwich, maybe some chips or a granola bar. On a really good day there would be some pudding too. Sometimes she put a note in my lunch as well, just a "Have a good day! I love you!" Once she was feeling silly and wrote "Eye love ewe" and drew little pictures of an eye and a sheep. I didn't know what a ewe was, so I had to ask her later. She made my lunches most days for all of elementary school.

2. A memory of a Popsicle

I loved those Popsicles that came in big bags, one with the orange, blue, and purples, the other with red, brown, and yellows. My favorites were the brown because they were root beer flavored. It seemed like we usually got the other bag of Popsicles, though. I remember one summer afternoon, we had all our neighborhood friends over (Tonya and Tony Holman, Leza and Tony Farmer, my sister Rachel, my brother Ethan) and we had to line up to get our Popsicles from my mom. There weren't too many left, so we were worried we wouldn't get the color we wanted. But I chose to go last in line instead of first. I was conscious of this being a noble thing to do, but I did it because I knew it would look that way. I wanted to seem noble and self-sacrificing and be admired for it.

3. A memory of sunscreen

Sunscreen has always been a part of my life. You can't be so blonde and not be extremely susceptible to burning up in the sun. I mostly remember the times when I was dumb and didn't put on sunscreen. Like the day we were at my grandparents' house in Wyoming and after a day in the pool, I was so fried I got heatstroke and spent the next two days sick in bed. Or the time my family was in California when I was 13 and my sister and I thought it would be fun to not put on sunscreen and then fall asleep at the beach. The backs of our legs were a deep, painful, swollen red the next day and for the rest of the trip. And then I did it again, three days later, at a different beach. I didn't mean to that time, but still. It was really dumb.

4. A memory of a doctor's appointment

The last time I went to the doctor was about a year ago and was because I had skipped a period and my schedule was way off and my mom was worried. I had never had a physical before and never been to a gynecologist, so I was trying to be mature but was really quite nervous. I didn't really have a doctor, so I made the appointment with the family practice part of the local hospital. I made sure to schedule with a woman doctor. Surprisingly, I knew the assistant who showed me to the little room and took my information. Her name was Heidi, and she lived in my neighborhood for a little while when I was growing up. She was a couple of years younger than me, but she already had a kid and was getting married in a few months. We chatted about life for a few minutes, then I just asked her flat out to tell me what was going to happen in this appointment. It felt strange to ask someone who was always younger than me for that kind of information. But I was grateful that she laid it all out: stirrups, pap smear, breast exam. It made me feel so much better to know what to expect. And really, I guess it wasn't all that bad.