Tuesday, February 23, 2010

More than you ever imagined

I decided to list some things about myself that very few people, if any, know. This may be a challenge for me but I figure it's good exercise for my memory muscle. Here goes....

1) I still remember the layout of the house I lived in when I was 3.

2) In that same house, I remember tasting spinach for the first time. I hated it but pretended it was making me strong like Popeye to avoid eating any more. My parents were not impressed.

3) When I was 3 or 4, we attended a real country church. I got a fan to fan myself while sitting during the sermon. I pretended to read the words in the hymn books and would sing along with everyone else. Except that I sang the story of Little Red Riding Hood....loudly!

4) We moved to NJ when I was 4. The first winter we were there, it was really hard financially. A neighbor gave us countless eggplants. I have never eaten eggplant since that time.

5) I was a sneaky kid but not adept at covering my steps yet. When I found some scissors and cut the letter "R"in the cat's fur, I was surprised my parents figured out it was me!

6) I adored my grandmother but only got to see her once a year. When I was in 5th grade, she lived with us for a year. After she left, I kept a pillow of hers because it smelled like her. I took that pillow to camp in high school and the girls there filled it with rocks as a joke. They never understood why I cried so hard.

7) I always thought I must've been mixed up at the hospital with some other kid. I used to dream what my 'real' family was like.

8) I have loved the ocean from the first time I saw it. Playing in the sand was like icing on the cake.

9) I hated being the youngest in my class. I lied about my birthday so I could be 'older'.

10) Behind our church was a concord grape orchard (more like a single fence). When the grapes were ripe, we'd sneak out of church and eat grapes until we couldn't eat any more.

11) When I was 12, I read 2 books by Beverly Cleary, "Jean and Johnny" and "Fifteen" over and over and over.

12) I also loved "Harriet the Spy".

13) I liked a boy named David in 4th grade. My mother told me I couldn't marry him because he was Jewish. I told my mother I'd marry anyone I wanted!

14) In 6th grade, the principal stopped our class in the hall and announced that I'd scored highest on the school's aptitude tests. Instead of feeling proud, I was mortified and embarrassed.

14) I had a crush on my 3rd grade teacher. He was a brand new teacher and I was sure he'd wait for me until I grew up.

15) When I was 12, I thought Native Americans were the most beautiful people I'd ever seen. I told my mother I wanted to marry an Indian one day.

16) My mother told me I couldn't marry an Indian because we'd have mixed race children.

17) I told my mother that we'd just adopt a white baby and an Indian baby and that would solve the problem!

18) My mother told me she could never love an adopted grandchild. I decided right then it was HER problem, not mine!

19) Most of my life I have felt like I didn't fit in. It took me to my 40's to feel comfortable with myself.

20) I've never expected to succeed. Making the field hockey varsity team in high school was a shock.

21) In high school, I ate lunch with a guy who carried his Bible and called himself a Jesus Freak. I was always in awe of him.

22) The first pop song I learned all the words to was Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown".

23) The first album I ever owned was Carole King's "Tapestry".

24) At the end of my first year of college, Kevin drove from NJ to Iowa to pick me up. (we were both 18) I sneaked him into my dorm room so he could sleep before we loaded up to drive back.

25) In high school, I loved Advanced Biology. I secretly wanted to be a Genetic Counselor but never knew how to pursue it.

26) Kevin and I got our first waterbed in 1977 and still sleep on a waterbed!

27) When I turned 40, I got my eyeliner tattooed on and have never regretted it!

So, did you learn anything new?

5 comments:

NLBlack said...

I learned that you and I must be REAL sisters, as we have had so many of the same experiences! It was almost shocking!

1, 2, 7, 11, 12, 13 (even the name David was the same!), and 23.

I loved Popeye and did the spinach routine, but then later learned to love spinach, so I guess that is a bit different.

We had apricots next to the church, and we ate a lot of them.

Unknown said...

I learnt;) : You had more bad food experiences as a child than I knew about...makes me prouder of how you are branching out and trying new stuff!
Harriet the Spy!! haha...my classmates and I got into alot of trouble with our own "spy books"! I think that was about 5th or 6th grade and that book was required reading... they must've regretted that!!!
A reminder: don't ever underestimate yourself and what God is able to accomplish...you've been very successful in any job you've ever tackled (that I'm aware of)...more importantly you are successful in life!

Unknown said...

"Kevin said" is really "Pam said"! "older than dirt said"...

Jaime said...

That was so fun to read, Mom! Many of the stories/tidbits, I already knew, but not all of them! I love your response to your mom about marrying an Indian and adopting a white baby and an Indian baby. Great problem solving! And, even better to decide it was HER problem and not yours that she couldn't love an adopted baby.

I enjoyed reading those! I remember way less of my growing up than you do of yours... Shame on me!

Liz said...

I love this! :)

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Longview, Texas
In the autumn of my life, I am very content.

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