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A Chronolgy, 2008

1977 – Florencia Guillen is born to Maria Beltran and Miguel Guillen and is the youngest of a family of two. Her 7-year-old brother, Luis Miguel Guillen, enjoys dressing up as a policeman while her mother, Maria, owns a long black skirt used for special occasions. Her father, Miguel, is a civil servant and has a beige Renault. Florencia uses cloth diapers and begins to drink from a bottle when she is six months old.

1978 – Florencia says “Mama” (Mom) for the 130th time. Her mother, while at social occasions with other mothers, talks about all the cute things Florencia does. Her mother buys a red Volvo three months after her brother goes into 4th grade.

1979 – Her father buys a pair of brown shoes while Florencia, running around in the shoe shop, bangs her head on one of the shoe stands and cries for over half an hour. Her brother gets a “B” in religion class.

1980 – She joins the local kindergarten and is dressed up as a witch for a birthday party she attends. She makes plasticine figures and eats raw pasta while on early creativity classes.

1981 – She refuses to wear dresses for the first time and decides she doesn’t like vegetables. Her mother starts selling Avon and her father gets a small raise. Her brother falls in love with the blonde girl in the class.

1982 – Florencia starts a friendship with a girl called Madison who is in her kinder garden group. They play with their dolls and eat candy from the corner shop. After 1982, the two would part their ways and have not seen each other since.

1984 – While in second grade she falls ill with the chicken pox. This year she was also taken to a Pizza place and received a bike as a birthday present.

1985 – Her brother Luis Miguel begins to get pimples and wear heavy metal shirts while Florencia starts getting into pop female singers. She watches the Japanese cartoon story set in England- Candy Candy- everyday for 7 months and 3 days. She and her family go to Manzanillo for holidays where Florencia eats Diary Queen ice creams and buys a Senor Frogs shirt for her closest friend. They would lose touch and remain in only occasional contact in adult life. During the trip to Manzanillo, her mother buys issue number 172 of Hola magazine to read about Julio Iglesias’ duet with Diana Ross.

1989 – Florencia studies Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology as do most other middle school students. She has average grades and does not excel at anything in particular. Her father gets another small raise and her mom stops selling Avon.

1990 – She falls out with her cousin over a boy they both like but then they make up. (She would not to see the boy ever again in her life.) She advances to the final year of middle school with an average grade and gets along fine with all her classmates. She gets her period after about half of her friends get theirs. Her aunt Isabel Beltran gets a hernia operation.

1991 – She has a boyfriend whom she kisses, although it isn’t her first kiss. She doesn’t fall in love or share any meaningful moments with him. She starts wearing Doctor Martens boots and jean jackets. She gets her ears pierced 7 times. Her parents go to the funeral of a distant uncle in another city and she throws a party where she gets drunk on beer.

1995 – She gets kicked out of a health class but is allowed back in after 10 minutes. She joins the high school basketball team where she plays the forward position when the first string player becomes ill.

1997 – She joins a gym and starts doing step and spinning classes. She becomes vegetarian for 6 months and starts going to counselling to tackle her self-esteem issues. She reads Juan Salvador Gaviota, a book that helps her find her path in life. She wears make-up and goes to nightclubs regularly.

1999 – Florencia gets a “B” in an essay about Monet’s Waterlillies. Later this year she graduates from college without any honours and attends the graduation ceremony wearing a rented gown. Later that month she frames her College diploma and her mother hangs it in the downstairs toilet. She gets a job in a cafe and after six months she starts temping in different offices.

2001 – She travels with her family to a beach resort and eats nachos by the pool. She reads Paolo Coehlo’s The Alchemist during that trip. She finally gets her first serious job as a receptionist in an insurance company where they offer her mobile phone expenses and a gym membership. She whitens her teeth to start the job.

2003 – Florencia gets the minimum legal salary raise and is congratulated by her boss for making the best espresso coffee. Later this year she gets promoted to administrator. She goes to her sister in law’s bachelorette party where she wears a devil’s horns headband that lights as she walks. She meets John Smith that night with whom she has a meaningless 2 month affair. John works in a bank as a customer service advisor and uses cologne. Towards the end of the year she gets a pap test that comes out regular.

2004 – Florencia decorates her room at her parents house inspired by a Home-Style Magazine issue from 1998. She buys scented candles and a mattress cover and buys her first piece of art – a Labrador puppy coming out of a basket. Her mom has a dental extraction.

2005 – She meets Shaun Pierce - a decent man who works as an insurance salesman - and they get engaged after 7 months of dating. He proposes at an average Italian restaurant where they ordered the house rose wine and two mushroom tagliatelle dishes with an entree of garlic bread and olives. That same year she has a pregnancy scare but it turns out to be a false alarm. He changes jobs to a bigger insurance company that has branches in smaller towns.

2007 – She gets married in a hotel reception room. They invite 100 people and their first dance is to The Power of Love by Jennifer Rush. They go on holiday to a 4 star beach resort that her wealthy uncle paid for as wedding present. Among their wedding presents is a gourmet selection of oils and pastas from John Lewis – they keep the “JL” printed box as a living room decoration. Her brother gets engaged to a high school classmate that he reconnects with through Facebook.

2008 – Florencia and her husband move to a smaller town that has good schools for children. They rent a house with a small garden and two rooms and buy a 21” TV with digital viewing capability. They start going out to dinner parties with some local newlyweds Shaun met at his new office. They join the local gym where he lifts weights and she does Pilates. Her father retires with an average state pension.