I just did one of those Facebook deals and thought I'd post it here also. I realize mine is more of a compilation of childhood stories than a nice concise list!
25 Random Things about Me
Not sure anyone cares to read about someone in my generation... but here goes... in all its self indulgence! I recently scanned some old stuff from my youth, so that will likely be reflected here.
RULES: I feel the same way about this as I do the curse/blessing that is tacked onto forwarded emails. Do what you choose. :-) I’ll be tagging a few people after completing this... some of whom have already done it.
1. I was kind of the “accidental” child in the family. My parents were thinking of stopping at two (my mother had wicked morning-sickness) but left the door open and I came along five years behind my sister and nine after my brother. I was reminded often as a child that I was red and wrinkled and funny looking when I came home from the hospital. I was the biggest baby and the longest labor.
2. I have always been inclined to want to know what makes people tick and how they feel about their situations in life. My grandmother was somewhat incensed when as a pre-school child I sincerely asked her one day, “Grandma... does it bother you being... you know.. fat?”
3. Despite my outspokenness, coupled with being willing to talk about almost anything (and sometimes getting into trouble for letting something out of the bag I didn’t know was a secret), I had roommates at college ask me to handle a situation or talk to someone because I was “so tactful.” (Ha!) I’ve also tended to be the designated spokesperson in groups for some reason (when someone leans over and asks me to raise my hand and ask the question because they are too shy or uncomfortable to do so). The downside of being the spokesperson is taking the heat. This is probably the reason I’ve ended up serving in things like student council or ending up on the symphony board for a few years when it was never my intention to do so. I really hate politics.
4. I can be very stubborn about changing my view on something unless someone presents information that seems logical and makes sense. It doesn’t matter that they are older, more experienced or have a degree behind their name, if I still don’t think what they are saying is rational, or meshes with my own impressions. I need to ask questions and do more research on the subject before I’ll embrace it as a truth. I’m not interested in being right for its own sake... but want to be “correct” and don’t just take someone’s word at face value unless they’ve proven in the past to be bullet proof. As a child, this tendency could be infuriating to my elders... especially when I was indeed, WRONG... but was not convinced of that fact. When I was three or four years old, my (older) sister and I got into a heated debate about the correct pronunciation of the title of a popular TV program we watched. I was certain it was “Wells Spargo.” =:o Her simply insisting it was Wells FARGO was not enough when to me it sounded like the other (I didn’t READ). In the heat of her frustration at my insistence, she popped me in the face ... resulting in a raging bloody nose. I recall our mother trying to get the bleeding to stop as she had me hanging over the bathroom sink... “Linda! Did you HAVE to hit her in the face?!” and Linda nearby protesting... “But Mom!”
5. It would seem we are who we are from a very early age and I’ve never seemed to conquer things like getting to bed at a decent time, keeping up an exercise program or having my weight be where I want it. I’ve always felt I was not as disciplined as I should be and struggle with making myself do something when the passion for that thing has fled. When I’m into a project... I can do nothing else until it’s done and will obsess over it.
6. People being grossly inconsistent in how they behave as opposed to who they tell you they are drives me crazy. While more sensible people shrug their shoulders and walk away, I seem to have the need to figure out what in the heck is going on with them. I suspect it’s a combination of really wanting to believe in their intentions being pure and my making sure my perceptions are not so off base that I can no longer trust them. When they tell me they are other than what their behavior would suggest... my first response is to doubt myself. It would save all of us a lot of grief if I just let it go... like most other people do! ;-)
7. I went through a fire bug period as a child and loved playing with matches when I could get ahold of any. Fire was fascinating. The worst thing was messing around with an old shower curtain that was stashed in the attic of our playhouse. My folks came home, walked up the sidewalk and saw smoke coming from a small upstairs window. I got spanked for that one and fortunately, the playhouse lived to see a few more years.
8. I was a total tomboy growing up and found solace in knowing my mother was the same. I could climb any tree on our place and would go up those tall evergreens until their tops swayed. My uncle gave me a pocket knife when I was 9 or 10, when he heard I was really hankering to own one. When puberty started to move in around 4th grade, I was depressed. I really thought God made an error when I was made a female. I had much more in common with boys and into my adulthood preferred the company of guys over most girls. I reconciled with it by the time junior high rolled around.
9. At the age of four, I fell out of our old Nash when my mother was driving into Bremerton. I had a tiny bit of paper that was bothering me and decided to throw it away by opening the door (“suicide doors” on that old car... the back doors opened at the front and hinged on the back). I still have a vivid memory of clutching onto the metal door handle with both hands and feeling them slowly slide off the metal... all the while seeing my own legs dangling above the pavement, speeding underneath. My mom realized I was hanging from the door and was trying to gradually come to a stop, when finally I could hang on no longer. It was in front of a gas station near the Hearthstone restaurant (don’t think the restaurant was there at the time). I fell into the oncoming lane and rolled onto the shoulder. Fortunately, I’d hung there long enough that cars behind and in front of us could see the situation unfolding. I don’t remember any pain, but recall lying there watching a guy in a service station uniform, running across the street to me... and seeing our car coming to a stop a ways off. Mom took me to the doctor before we did the planned shopping in town (we had a friend and her mother with us). A hood on my jacket took the hit and had ripped in back... my scalp/head was not injured. He told her I seemed to be fine, but he was concerned about a cough I had at the time. ;-) I remember thinking right after how dumb I’d been not to think of rolling down the window instead! :-D Trash bag? Never dawned on me (I was four, after all). I’m not sure we had one in the car back then... no seat belts either. The girl next to me froze in panic when the door opened and my sister who was on the other side of her couldn’t reach over to grab me. That was her frustration at the time. She was about 9 years old.
10. I love nature, animals, birds, flowers, etc. As a kid I caught frogs at the local pond and tried to make pets out of them, or get a tadpole to develop into an adult frog under my watch. (There were some crabs that came home from Dyes Inlet also... hope I took them back and turned them loose eventually.) It was a total feeling of power one summer day, when I caught a garter snake in our yard and chased my sister’s friends around with it. I was bad. :-) When you’re the baby of the family you need to level the playing field somehow!
11. In another life I was a fairly accomplished pianist, despite my laziness in practicing as much as I should have. I was able to represent our town’s chapter at the state music teacher’s convention when I was 18. My recollection of that was that while doing the arpeggio section in the last movement of the Moonlight Sonata... the piano started to rock forward and back with each one until I feared it was going to roll away from me... so I had to back off a little. They had a huge grand piano there for the event, but it was still on one of those piano castor frame things... (must be a better name than that!).
12. Music was a centerpiece in our family while growing up and my sister and I both had perfect pitch. It makes life interesting but is fairly useless except when your vocal group sings for some ladies’ luncheon and the music teacher has forgotten the pitch pipe. ;-) It mostly drives you nuts when the choir goes flat and loses a step or two because you still hear it in your head in the original key. It’s not “perfect,” but is a sort of memory imprint of whatever you hear often. Something that made me chuckle at the time... when I was in our local chorale a few years ago we were doing an a cappella piece and the choir would almost consistently lose a step by the time we got to the end. It was really frustrating because they got so used to singing that piece in the wrong key, it felt right for the choir to end up there. I had the feeling they and our wonderful director were unaware of how far we’d slipped. He seemed unconcerned, so I asked if we could hear our starting note on the piano to check if we’d held the key. The director was certain we were fine. He was shaking his head as he walked to the piano and looked stunned when he played the note and it was obvious we were indeed quite FLAT (a whole step). The alto part on that particular selection was totally in the cellar, even when it was done in the right key! A guy in the tenor section leaned over and said, “How do you do that?” I told him it was just something some folks are born with... that their brain seems to remember the original key if they’ve heard it enough times. I tried to think of a metaphor... “You know how you can sometimes be shopping for clothing, see something in the store and know it’s EXACTLY the right shade to match something you already have at home?” He looked at me with a smirk and said, “I can’t do that either!” :-)
13. In keeping with the former item... my mother said I would sing “Young at Heart” (Frank Sinatra) in total as a two year old and she was amazed that I hit all of the notes. I’ve always loved harmony and would sing whatever was needed to fill out a chord. In grade school, that would mean doing it even if I was the only one in the class singing it. One time the principal came in to hear our fourth grade class perform something and afterward, he turned to the teacher and asked “Who’s singing the harmony part?” It kind of startled me at the time... like I’d been outed.
14. One of the most elevating musical moments of my life was when about 20 of us from the Bremerton Symphony Chorale participated in a 200 voice multi-faith choir for the Goodwill Games (around 1990?) in Seattle. We did Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in the Seattle Opera House. To this day I get teary-eyed when I hear the closing strains of that last movement. Wow!
15. When something grabs me, I’ve been inclined to become a collector, until I lose interest in that thing. As a kid I collected stamps and agates... and gave both collections to a cousin who got an interest about the time I lost it. The other things I’ve tended to collect are plants... there are so many families to choose from! Rhododendrons had a place of honor when our garden was new, then roses... then perennials. Now I’m mostly collecting weeds. ;-) When I think of it... collecting living things or media related items such as movies or music hold more for me than say, dolls or knick-knacks.
16. I had some defining moments (as Dr. Phil would call them) in grade school, when a kid moved in, got some influence and felt the need to make me public enemy number one. I had a huge crush on him at the time, but nonetheless, at school it was a daily situation of dealing with whatever he decided to dish out. This was ongoing for two years. One day I arrived and no one would talk to me because he’d instructed them beforehand. A teacher got wind of that and put an end to it. Humiliations were frequent, but being the stubborn person I was, I would not back down from this kid... and I knew I could never be the kind of person he seemed to think I should be to fit in, without hating myself for not being true to who I am. I suppose he had his humiliations sometimes too because he was majorly into sports and at that time I could outrun him. It also drove him nuts if I did better on a test because he knew I was sometimes a slacker when it came to studying the material. I’d been a leader in the class before he came and so when class officers would be chosen, it was not unusual to be nominated for something. On one particular day, we had those elections (6th grade) and I was nominated for each and every position from president all the way down to chalkboard monitor. When the actual voting took place... no one wanted to vote against this kid and I’d lose each time. At the end, a boy in front of me made a crack about me being just like the Mets and everyone laughed. ;-) Our 24 years-young Language Arts teacher asked me to stay for a minute after the ending bell so he could talk to me. My head was hanging and it was totally demoralizing to say the least. He said, “They wouldn’t say anything if they didn’t care” and I muttered something about it being all right. I’ll never forget this wonderful teacher for the next moment (that now he’d not dare do)... when he reached out, affectionately straightened my collar and said, “Someday, I’m going to have a daughter just like you.” I can’t tell you how much it made a difference to know someone didn’t think all of that was warranted and okay... and that he cared enough to try to stop it. He wasn’t able to stop it... but he tried. I was able to write him a letter after Ron and I were married... when I was about 22 years old. His kindness and concern has always stayed with me. The young man that made my life a misery at that time, I’ve since learned had a few demons of his own to deal with. Kids usually do things for a reason.
17. I had a burning desire for a chemistry set when I was in grade school. My father finally broke down and bought one and it was fun doing experiments for awhile. (My older and only brother was into this and actually got his doctorate in bio-chemistry.) I’d hoped to take it in high school, but had too many music classes in the schedule to add another science. I also remember as a kid being fascinated with the notion that penicillin came from mold and had my own little mold growing experiment with an orange... until it got too disgusting to deserve to live. :-P
18. The only broken bone I’ve had is a wrist that was fractured when I was in my one year of college. Wish I could say it happened while skiing (I was in Utah... but I don’t ski)... but alas... we were playing Red Rover with our BYU “brothers” on the front lawn of our dorm! :-) I broke through all right... and fell on that wrist.
19. In grade school I had the distinction of being the fastest runner in our class/school for quite a long time. One of the more embarrassing moments of my high school years was when a neighbor commented to my father about what a fast runner Kathy was. They would see me streaking by on the road above their driveway as they sat at the breakfast table in the mornings. =:o Before I was able to start driving to school, I caught the bus and was often running late (another thing I continue to struggle with). In skirt and nylons and loaded down with school books, I would hear the bus coming down the long hill to our mailboxes/bus stop and would have to sprint on the lower road about as fast as the bus was coming from the other direction. Never imagined the neighbors down the hillside were getting a show every morning when that happened!
20. During my youth, I was often told I looked like someone else. More than once in grade school, that someone was “Zelda,” from the Dobie Gillis show. I had a ponytail then and didn’t consider it much of a compliment!
21. Public speaking has never frightened me... which is too bad. In first grade, I had a bad habit of getting too excited and blurting out answers before the teacher got to call on someone else to give it. One day in her frustration, she said, “Okay Kathy... if you’re so smart, why don’t YOU come up and teach the class?” I was a bit puzzled at her request, but from where I sat, what she was doing looked pretty simple... take a yardstick, point to words on the board and ask people to read them. Being too young to interpret her meaning and wanting to obey... I walked up front, took the yardstick from her hand and did my best to “teach the class” while she stood by. After a minute or two she told me I could go back and sit down. I wish now I knew what she was thinking while she was standing there. Five years later I reflected on that puzzling moment and realized she was trying to shut me up. Duh! Problem is... I enjoyed teaching the class. I still enjoy teaching. Most of first grade was dismally boring... always having to be quiet so someone else could answer and wanting to read books that were more interesting but not being allowed. My father skipped a grade in school but our school back then had a policy not to do it. Maybe that’s just as well... but it was frustrating and I entertained myself by talking when I was bored and distracting the people nearby. :-/
22. I was paid to edit a Dummies book on soapmaking a few years ago. After hours of going through the manuscript to correct information on cold process soapmaking, they chickened out and took all of that part out... making it a rather unremarkable book on melt and pour soap. I still got paid, but it frustrated me. I’ve been asked about writing a book on that subject and basically have one online... but it’s not looking like I’ll get it done. While being acknowledged in several other soapmaking books by others and having proofread one other besides the Dummies book... I’ve yet to produce and market my own. I guess it seems like too much work and life has to stop to make it happen... so I give away instruction for free. Lots of nice things have come from the website though... and I’ve met some wonderful people online. For someone who is as much a stay at home as myself (a friend once referred to me as a “reclusive extrovert”), the website has really enriched my life.
23. As a child, I had the unhappy experience of disturbing a yellow jacket’s nest that was buried under some old stumps. I was about 5 years old and playing with the boy and girl from across the street. They lived next door to the stumps in question and I was further up the street with a long driveway, so the bees caught up with me. I hit the front door, screaming at the top of my lungs with bees crawling in my clothes and hair. It was a Sunday morning and the folks were reading the Sunday paper in the living room... a Sunday ritual. :-) It’s kind of hazy, but we ended up in the kitchen where they beat me about the head with rolled up newspapers (well... they were swatting the hornets). It was all a bit traumatic and in the end I received thirteen bee stings. I had the fattest lower lip you can imagine. I remember being super groggy later and taking a heavy nap (not the usual). Upon coming back into the kitchen to survey the scene, and seeing my mother sweeping hornet carcasses out onto the porch, I felt responsible for all of those little creatures losing their lives. If we’d not bothered them they’d still be okay. My parents recalled me standing in the doorway with my fat lip and in a forlorn tone uttering, “Poor bees.”
24. From the time I was a child, I’ve always had an interest in family history and would ask Dad about getting our family tree done. That interest has been with me my whole life and it is a hope to do more on this now that the children are grown. People have spoken of psychic experiences and I will say I’ve had a few of what I would call “paranormal” experiences in my life... and they always had to do with deceased relatives. My sister had a bona-fide psychic friend who once told me I was psychic but didn’t know it. Since I also have an abiding belief in the boogeyman... it’s just as well I don’t SEE dead people in my waking hours! Feeling them on occasion or having a vivid dream is enough. I suppose if I saw one of my parents in a waking state, I’d have nothing but warmth and thrill at such a thing... but those are gifts that happen for a reason, and I’m not expecting it’s necessary or likely to happen.
25. When I worked at Furney’s Nursery, a younger co-worker asked one day if I regretted never finishing college and having a family instead. My first response to her was, “I’m not dead yet.” I don’t think you can do it all and honestly, having children and being married was always at the top of my list of where I saw my life going. It would be nice to have had the confidence building experience of getting a degree in something... some people give you more credibility when you do that... but learning is not just about a credential either. So... if I had to make a choice, I’d probably do it all over the same in the same circumstances. I’ve not been the perfect mom and goodness knows... there were times I was in survival and not as patient or in tune as I should have been... BUT... I will always consider having children and being a mother the most important and gratifying thing I’ve done in life. I don’t think we can take credit for who our children are... they come to us with personalities already in place and God takes credit for that. We are stewards... and do have influence, for better or worse. I like that our children all seem to have a desire to put more good into the world than what they take.
Yes... I was called “Chatty Kathy” in second grade and had “TALKS” written in the deportment section of grade school report cards. Sorry for the length and wordiness here. If you’ve gotten this far... hats off to you for endurance! :-)
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Miscanthus 'Yaku Jima' glistens in the winter light.
The Witch Hazel shown above was the first thing that really called to me this morning. The sunlight really brightens up those small fragrant flowers. I just LOVE the air outside right now. Three different fragrant plants are blooming around the place. I think I went on about this already. It was necessary to prune a few branches off this tree since they were rubbing on the edge of the roof and on our bedroom window. Even with its reduced profile, it's put on a nice show. I guess I didn't think it was going to get this tall since they are slow growing. Some of the hybrids are smaller than this species.
He's making the cuts outside... with this...
Next stop was near the porch. This plant was purchased last winter... a nice Hellebore called 'Ivory Prince.'
Most of the following are volunteers. The first is the "Stinking Hellebore" ... what a name! This one looks very happy and healthy. I think it's the first time it's bloomed.
A volunteer snowdrop in the back. I don't know who planted snowdrops on this place, but they've cropped up in a couple of spots since we moved here. I did plant a few of a double variety in the north bed, but they have never seeded anywhere.
The white form of hellebore... "Christmas Rose." It was so cold this winter for such a long time, "Christmas" came a bit late this season.
Buds are emerging for the Helleborus orientalis (dusky pinkish-purple).
A second Witch Hazel growing near the back of the garage. Without checking my notes, I think this is 'Arnold Promise.' I may also regret this placement later, since it's spreading enough to warrant some pruning in the next couple of seasons. In the autumn these turn beautiful shades of gold and reddish-rust.
Well... other things need to get done before bedtime... one of which is putting the clean sheets back on! I hope you all have a great weekend and for those who are up for the marathon... enjoy the Academy Awards if that's your thing. I set up the DVR to record it for a friend and was shocked to see they are devoting EIGHT hours to the whole shindig. Three hours of Red Carpet... four hours of coverage... then after shows with celebrity interviews, etc. The bright spot will surely be Hugh Jackman acting as master of ceremonies. I hope they have him sing. :-)
