Five Things Many People Don’t Know About Me
After my sister Nancy posted five things that most people don’t know about her, I found myself thinking of what things about me most people don’t know. It was harder than I expected. I’ve always considered myself a somewhat private person, but having this journal has apparently changed that. I can think of lots of things that local friends or neighbors might not know about me, but in here I talk about nearly everything. I’ve already mentioned my bout with radiation therapy and my trip to Africa. I’ve talked over and over about my writing and my aspirations for the future. I decided to take up the challenge and find at least five things that I’ve not mentioned in my journal before.
Five Things Many People Don’t Know About Me.
1. I sometimes forget to feed the kids. They don’t go hungry, they either forage for themselves or pester me until I fix food for them. Life would go smoother around here if I would have scheduled mealtimes where food is ready. Sometimes I manage to do it, but lately food has been catch-as-can. I tell myself that I’m teaching my kids to be self sufficient. It makes me feel a little better until I notice that they’re self sufficiently subsisting on chips and cheese and ramen noodles. I do make breakfast every morning. That counts for something right?
2. I stole books from my junior high library. I love books. I’ve always loved books. When I was in junior high I would check out stacks of books and then forget to turn them back in. This lead to my report cards being held until I returned all the books. It was annoying and embarrassing, so I solved the problem by taking books without checking them out. Then I decided to just keep them because I really really wanted to own those books. A year or two later I repented and returned the books. I also confessed to all the affected parties and made a painfully large monetary donation to the library as a self-imposed restitution. The librarian, who is still my friend to this day, forgave me. So it all worked out alright in the end.
3. I have a temper. I am not the perfect mother or human being. I get mad. When I get mad I have been known to yell and throw things and slam doors. Once I was so mad I kicked a hole in the wall. When I calmed down I patched the hole. But I applied the patch poorly and everyone who isn’t blind can tell that the wall is patched. This patched portion is, of course, in the front room. Because of the location, I cannot hide it behind furniture. So far no one has ever asked about the patch, but it is there, a monument to my loss of temper.
4. I only had one boyfriend prior to meeting Howard and that relationship only lasted two weeks. The relationship was also only two months prior to meeting Howard. I was 19 at the time. I was totally inexperienced in relationship management. There was a big experience gap because Howard had not been as strangely cautious as I was. This means Howard is the only man I’ve ever been in love with. I’m fairly content with this because I’ve heard that break-ups and broken hearts are not so fun.
5. I’ve read the unabridged version of Les Miserables (1462 pages ) from beginning to end. I have also read War and Peace, Anna Karennina, The Canterbury Tales, Wuthering Heights, everything Jane Austen wrote, Middlemarch, Vanity Fair, and piles of other literature. None of this reading was for an assignment. I just wanted to read them. It is fascinating to read these slower paced stories. I love getting the feel for the culture that is described in the book and finding the hidden assumptions of the author that tell me what kind of world she lived in. I’m not always in the mood for this older stuff, but when I am I love it.