Fifty Cups of Coffee #16: Jennifer Hopkins Pepin
Date: April 12, 2024
Location: Zoom
How we know each other
Jenn and I went to high school together. We were on the same cheerleading squad, and had a lot of classes together. Since then, we’ve kept in touch via social media. It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years since we’ve actually seen each other in real life!
What Jenn is doing now
Jenn currently lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband and their daughter (age 13) and son (age 10).
She works as airport engineer and oversees capital improvement projects. Prior to that she was a project engineer for 20 years.
Three questions
During these Fifty Cups of Coffee chats, I ask each person the same three questions. The reasoning behind each is as follows:
Question 1 – Social media makes it easy for other people to think that they know us, when truthfully, we all only see a small sliver of someone’s life and who they really are. This is the interviewee’s chance to share something that is important to them that, for whatever reason, other people may not know.
Question 2 – We all have fears, no matter who are are or where we are in life. This helps connect us and show we are all more alike than we are different.
Question 3 – I believe the answer to this question helps show each person’s true values, passions, and their why in life.
There are no right or wrong answers to any of these. I’m including each person’s answers in first person. Their answers have been edited from my notes for length and clarity, but these are their words.
What is one thing you wish more people knew about you?
“That I have dyslexia and it shaped me, who I am today, probably more than anything, because of how hard I had to work in school and how that translates to other portions of my life. Figuring that out early on in 4th grade, my parents put me through some training classes in a program that taught me how to teach myself, and what I have to do to succeed and excel. That really shaped school for me and moving forward into other areas of my life and the things that I do. We didn’t really talked about it back then, it’s not something we shared. Something that not a lot of people know about me, is that we drove to Oregon City once a week for these classes. I would not be the person I am today if my mom hadn’t put me through it.”
What is your deepest fear?
“Losing my kids. Having them being taken away or having them go away – that is my deepest fear. I like to travel with them but there’s periods of time when I’ll think: what happens if I lose them here? In Alaska we don’t have quite the amount of opportunities for things like that to happen. We’re small: the whole state is 160,000 people. But we still have all the problems any the community has, and I fear anything happening to my kids.”
If you had unlimited funds, what would you do with your life?
“I don’t think it looks much different than what it is now, other than more freedom to go do things and have more experiences with the kids. We like to get out and explore Alaska, so we might have opportunities for that. Maybe I’d like a cook and housekeeper, but maybe not; we have fun cooking dinners together. I would like to be more able to get out and explore, travel.”
Lessons Learned
It was so fun to catch up with an old high school friend! Here are a few lessons I learned from our chat:
- There are always parts of people we don’t know about. I had no idea about Jenn’s dyslexia. As she said, we as a society just didn’t talk about it much back then. I think it’s always important to remember that no matter how much we think we know about someone, there will always be things we do not know — and that it’s up to each individual how much or how little they share with the rest of the world.
- Supportive parents can change the trajectory of your life. I so admire Jenn’s parents for continually seeking a diagnosis and then some help for Jenn’s dyslexia as a child – during a time when it just wasn’t talked about or even known about in schools. Hooray for parents advocating for their children!
Learn more about Jenn
Jenn did want to share a website that has been a sanity saver for her: emeals. It has meal planning and can send your grocery list to different grocery stores for order pickup or delivery. Thanks for sharing something that works well for you, Jenn!
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