A String of Pearls

Someone on Facebook said it perfectly:  “I wasn’t going to do this, but I have so enjoyed reading everyone else’s list that I figure others might like to read mine.” Here are 13 things about me.

1. I’ve always liked to be super busy. When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to be old enough to join 4-H. The first year I could only take one project; but the next year, when I was ten, I had eight projects: showing dogs, showing horses, raising a market hog, leather craft, knitting, rabbits, photography, and… I can’t remember the last one. Yes, my parents were awesome to facilitate all of that for me.
2. A test I once took showed that I am extremely left-brained, but good at accessing my right brain for creative endeavors.
3. I’ve never broken a bone or been stung by a bee, but I have had several head injuries from being drug on a horse, kicked in the head by a horse, an over-the-handlebars mountain bike wreck, and a snowmobiling accident. I don’t press my luck; I figure I’ve gotten lucky one too many times already.
4. Other than my teaching career, my jobs have been cleaning the church (age 13), grooming dogs at my mom’s kennel business, working at a sandwich shop, lifeguarding, working at a clothing store, McDonald’s (my hardest job by far), teaching piano lessons, the Dean’s Office at college, working at Denver District Court in the main clerk’s office and in a divorce courtroom, and tutoring. I absolutely love my teaching career and am grateful to my mother for steering me in that direction.
5. When I was 16, I was in a snowmobiling accident. I lost control and ran through a buck fence. I broke the top pole of the fence in half with my head and the jagged edge somehow got up under the full-face helmet I was wearing and almost tore my cheek off my face. I had to wait two hours for the ambulance to get up into the mountains and then another two hours to get to the hospital. I went straight into surgery and came out with 200 stitches in my face.
6. My first teaching job was in Texas City, Texas, between Houston and Galveston. I wanted to go somewhere “different” for a while. It was the third highest paying beginning teacher’s salary in the nation at the time, right behind Anchorage and Bakersfield, California (1988, $21,000/year). I’m glad I didn’t get stuck in Texas.
7. The hardest thing I’ve ever gone through is letting my girls go after my divorce. They wanted to “give their dad a chance” and went to live with him for three years in the Denver-metro area. They are now back with me, my life is complete, and I can continue with my job of parenting.
8. I love people, but I can easily keep myself entertained.
9. I am easy-going, maybe a little too much so. In high school, people tried, intentionally, to make me mad. I’ve had bosses ask me why I never get upset with coworkers or expectations on the job. My mom has called me the most tolerant person she knows.
10. I love words. I prefer to read slowly, savoring how authors craft their sentences and get their points across. I’m always tempted to list significant words, powerful phrases, and quotes all over the walls of my house. Someday.
11. I don’t listen to music much. In the car, I’ll choose NPR. At home, I want conversation or silence so I can think, read, and write. Classical music is amazing, but, after nine years of piano lessons, I listen to it too closely, picturing the score in my mind and what my hands would be doing on the keyboard; it’s not relaxing.  I cannot play music by ear. I have to have the music to read. It’s frustrating because I really want to sit around camp and play the guitar or the ukulele, but I can’t just pick out the notes or figure out the chords. I don’t watch TV, unless someone else has it on and I just happen to be in the same room. I read the newspaper every day.
12. I love the outdoors—running, hiking, camping, riding my bike, kayaking, playing in a lake. I have no great desire to travel to faraway lands as there are hundreds of places right here in Colorado that I still need to see.
13. The 40s are awesome. After my divorce, I was able to find myself again and embrace life to the fullest. Routine and regular days take the cake for me—exercise and outdoor time, family time, rewarding and purposeful work, time to learn and grow, time spent with friends, and lying down exhausted every night after utilizing every single moment during the day. If I was told that I only had six months left to live, I think I’d just carry on with my everyday life. I love it, and for that I am grateful.