Patricia Sanchez

Where should I begin? I’ve rewritten this piece over five times in the past year. It’s just hard to believe that 20 years have flown by in what feels like the blink of an eye. Twenty years ago, we were wrapping up our senior year with all the senior activities ahead of us. I feel fortunate to have grown up in a time without social media tracking our every move. We were allowed to make mistakes without them being documented for the world to see. We passed notes to our friends because we had to be extremely cautious not to exceed the 250-character limit in our text messages. What a world it was! I miss it, but I’m glad we can bond about the past. We were also fortunate to stay in touch with the rise of Myspace and Facebook shortly after graduating from high school. We caught glimpses into each other’s lives based on what we shared.

As for me, Patty, I’ve done what I hope most of us have done, which is to grow and heal. While I am a flawed person, far from perfect, I’ve been working on a better version of myself. I rediscovered my faith in God after many years of wandering and was baptized as a born-again Christian back in 2017. I’m married to an amazing, God-fearing man and have four beautiful, sweet children. Currently, I am a stay-at-home mom and work from home as a freelance web developer, mainly focusing on maintaining websites for existing clients. I relocated from Miami, FL, to a small town in Oklahoma two years ago. The simple, slow, small-town life is something I didn’t know I needed. It’s peaceful and I love raising my family here.

Life is certainly precious, and with numerous health scares these past few years, I try not to take life and good times for granted. Life can change in the blink of an eye, so I make sure to let those I love know that I love them. I apologize to my children every night for anything I may have done to hurt their feelings, even if they were in the wrong. My goal is to raise kind and strong adults. Family is most important thing to me right now. One of the things I struggle with is spending time in the Word with God during this season of motherhood. I welcome you to hold me accountable if you face the same challenge. Let’s be friends and support each other in our spiritual journeys.

Now, what has happened in the last 20 years? Like so many, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my career. I chose to lead with my head instead of my heart, which led me through numerous career changes. I put college on hold until I figured it out. I had a wonderful job working as a certified pharmacy technician for 10 years until one day I took initiative and followed my heart to enroll in art school for web design and interactive media. The first job I took as a web developer was building a fantasy sports app. I had so much fun and made everlasting friendships there. That’s the job that sat me in front of the cutest nerd in the world, my now-husband. 

I can’t wait to see you all at the 20-year reunion. We’re planning something really nice for you all.  I’ll catch you up more on my life there.