Bill, Bill, and more Bills...

In the 90's I had three Bills in my life. President Bill Clinton, my old mailman Bill, and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

I grew up during the prosperous years of the Clinton administration. Life wasn't hard. I was about 9 years old, wearing a mauve cloth headband and a maroon with a colorful parrot sequined sweater that my dearest Tayta lovingly made for me when Bill Clinton was reelected in 1996. I was so super excited that I even made a red, white, and blue sign with colorful fireworks and took it to school with me to celebrate. I was even somewhat infatuated when I saw images of Pres. Bill Clinton looking important in the golden Oval Office. Wow... I was happy I was to be an American during that time.

Bill, the mailman, was the blonde cheery fellow that came around every afternoon at around 4:30. It was after I finished school and I would be riding my bike or playing in the yard with my brother. But, when he came whistling by, Nurzat and I would always drop everything to run to him and grab the mail. He was always so nice too. Bill always complimented my smile even though I just lost my two front teeth. He would always split up the envelopes so that we can run to my parents with an equal amount. If there was one piece of mail, he'd make us guess which hand he was holding it in. The one who had the right guess got to deliver it to the house. For Halloween, he would give us lollipops. And for Christmas, he would give us a greeting card and a lollipop. We told him once we don't celebrate Christmas, but that didn't stop him from spreading the holiday cheer. He delivered the mail in the bitter cold, rain and snow; he did it all with a shiny megawatt smile and sunshiny personality.

After my brother and I delivered the mail we got from Bill the mailman to my mom, we would plop down in front of the TV to watch Bill Nye the Science Guy. I was memorized. He was corny, but I was in love with him. He explained things like quicksand, the solar system, magnets, cells, geography, rocks, energy, matter, plants, animals, time, building, inventions... you name it-- Bill described it all with so much energy and enthusiasm. I would follow along, trying recreate the experiments he was doing. His goofy dances and expression were a perfect match for my own childhood silliness. I think I learned more from him than all of years of science classes combined. Well, almost all those 'real school' years. Nonetheless, Bill Nye the Science Guy made me appreciate the intricacies and simplicities of our world and the vastness and grandeur of our universe.

Nowadays... the bills I have in my life are: my credit card bill, my phone bill, my school tuition bill, and the recently passed Economy/Wall St. bailout bill. Oh, and I can't forget about the single $10 bill currently residing in my wallet; that particular bill needs to get me through this week.

Life is just simply lovely.