Blog Challenge Day 2: 20 Facts

20 Facts About Me

1. I was born in Georgia, but I do not like sweet tea or peaches.
2. I was in a terrible car wreck at 16 years old. My car hydroplaned across the road and wrapped around a telephone pole at the driver’s side wheel well. Had the car been positioned less than a foot closer the driver’s side door, it’s likely I would’ve died. To date, I still hate driving in the rain.
3. My first big concert was New Kids on the Block in Munich, West Germany, although it was only four of the Kids instead of all five. Danny had a broken foot or ankle or something-or-other. The concert was fine, but I really wished I could’ve seen Bon Jovi instead. I was in the fifth grade.
4. When I found out we were infertile, I was a horrible friend to everyone who wound up pregnant. Thankfully, all of my pregnant girlfriends forgave me for being so awful.
5. In ninth grade I told my English teacher that I wanted to be a writer and photographer for National Geographic. I still think that would be a stellar job.
6. I used to believe that our infertility was the result of some very specific sins I’d committed. It took a long time to let go of that nonsense.
7. I think my pets understand everything I say.
8. My favorite movie – the one I never, ever tire of watching – is Meet Me in St. Louis. Shall I sing it for you?
9. I was a high strung parent when Jeremy was in infant and super laid back when Jackson was an infant. I wish I knew exactly how my reactive parenting shaped their personalities early on.
10. In an age when some of my peers are losing their parents, I feel incredibly blessed to still have three of my grandparents.
11. I’m not very sympathetic. Sometimes I think it’s because I see through the bullsh*t and other times I think it’s because I’m heartless.
12. When I was in college I was a suspect in fraud case and had to give handwriting samples at the local police department. Ultimately it was my time card at work that cleared my name. Couldn’t have been me! I wasn’t there.
13. I knew the boys were mine throughout both adoptions. Friends and family were nervous for me, scared that the birth mothers might change their minds and my heart would break, but I never doubted. They were my children from the start. It’s just that two lovely, selfless ladies carried them to term for me.
14. In eighth grade I was quite heavy and teased regularly for it. Jenny Craig was a popular diet system at the time and mean boys couldn’t resist calling me “Jenny Craig” whenever they wanted to hurt my feelings. It always worked.
15. When Chuck and I were first married, we seriously considered moving to Missoula, Montana. I’m often curious to know how different our life would’ve been had we gone.
    
    
    
16. Two people who always make me laugh are Chuck and Kathryn, my bestie from high school. Life is hard but a sense of humor makes it more enjoyable.
17. I spent 11 years as a vegetarian (1993-2004) and little by little I’m going back to it. My body keeps saying no to meat. (Top three foods my body is “hypersensitive” to: beef, pork, and tomatoes.)
18. Using the “unfollow” feature on Facebook has made Facebook more pleasant for me.
19. My compassion for animals far exceeds my compassion for people. Only recently have I decided that this is okay. The heart just goes where it’s pulled and we can’t all carry the same banner.
20.  I used to love horror films, but then I saw The Grudge. I was done after that. Nope. No more.