When is the first time you…
fell in love? First time it was more than just childhood crushes was with James, a guy I met through my church youth group at the state convention when I was a freshman in high school. We went to summer camp together, and started dating the next fall. I was more in love with the idea of being in love than I was in the guy, though… Didn’t know that until I was much older, though, when I came to understand what love really was.
lost someone close to you? My mom’s mom, Grandma, died when I was 7.5. She had Alzheimer’s and Breast Cancer. I never knew her the way she really was, because her Alzheimer’s started taking over by the time I was old enough to have tangible memories. I remember her voice, though. And how much she has inspired my mother — and me. She was a scrapbooker almost 100 years ago, she was a seamstress, she was an artist. And she was a lady.
drank alcohol? First time I tasted it was probably when a beer can was just sitting around the house after my parents had friends over. I thought it was foul. Miller, in the gold can, with the pulltabs that curled up and came totally out when you opened the cans. I have a lot of memories associated with that smell. 🙂
got kissed? Summer camp, the summer before 6th grade. My boyfriend and I were all maudlin as it was time to go back to our cabins for rest period, and the counselors teased us to just kiss and get it over with. So we did. Surprised us both. LOL! First REAL kiss was with Alan, when I was 15. Felt it all the way down to my TOES.
went to the hospital? I had croup when I was three years old, and I was hospitalized for it. No memory of it, though.
got your heart broken? College. I cared for him a whole lot more than he cared for me. He was very, very mean to me.
lost a pet? My parents gave our Miniature Schnauzers, Katie and Lucy, to a family that would have more time for them (they had to live outside because Katie was too stupid to be housebroken). I remember the car driving off that day with our dogs in the back. I was around 5 or 6, maybe.
smoked a cigarette? Never have, never will.
broke a bone? The day before Easter in kindergarten, I fell off a balance beam at Tim’s Ford State Park in Tennessee. Moments before, my father had had a nasty roadrash wreck on a motor scooter (he had been on a skateboard behind it, being pulled by a buddy, and fell off. Stupid stupid) and was bleeding profusely from his elbow and forearm, but when I came back to the campsite carrying my arm bending wrong, everyone forgot about Dad’s problem. Dad set my arm in the camper and splinted it, and then drove me and Mom back to Huntsville in his friend’s car (we only had our RV up there) to have it X-rayed and a cast put on it. While I was getting a cast put on, the nurses in the ER were also dressing my dads cuts and scrapes, so he did finally get the attention he needed.
got a job? My first official job that took out taxes was for The Mill Bakery & Eatery across from the hospital, the summer before my senior year in high school (when I was 16). Before that I did a lot of babysitting.
got cheated on? I think that Chad-the-Ice-Rinser’s “cousin” wasn’t a relative. He kept going to Atlanta to see his cousin. I was 22.
rode the city bus? Huntsville didn’t have City Buses until after I had gone off to college, and I’ve never ridden on them. I’ve ridden on the City Bus in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, though… And Duke’s entire campus system is connected by free busses. I rode Duke’s before Steamboats, though, so I guess when I was 17.
went to a concert? Depeche Mode, 1993, at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, NC.
Met someone famous? I went backstage and met Timothy Nolan, who was playing the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera in New York City in 1989. I was so excited to meet him that I took a red rose, but I had clutched the rose so tightly through the show that it was a floppy wilted mess by the time I gave it to him. The pictures of me from that day are hilarious.
dyed your hair? When I dumped Bobby-Who-Probably-Is-Gay-But-Won’t-Admit-It, I put highlights in my hair. I left the chemicals in for the prescribed 20 minutes, and it turned ALL of my hair strawberry blonde. Not a good look for me. But it was fun. After that, it became a tradition — dump the guy, dye the hair. I really love having red hair the most, but currently it’s dark brown, my natural color. My pregnancy with Alice changed my haircolor dramatically and made it a color I actually like, so I’m just enjoying it until it starts going gray on me.
got your own cell phone? 1996 or early 1997, when Jerry and I were dating. He lived in Madison, I lived in Huntsville, and there were about 15 miles between our apartments via interstate. I was concerned that I’d be stranded on the interstate late at night after leaving his apartment with no way to get help except from passersby. Got a cell phone (and one for Jerry, too) through work.
snuck out the house? Never did that, actually. Wasn’t worth the consequences.
drove a car? When I got my permit, Dad made me get in the front seat of a difficult-to-drive stickshift Dodge Ram 4×4 pickup and announced that we were going to the gas station. I had never driven before. I managed to get us to the gas station with my father, who is not a born teacher, yelling in my ear the whole time. When we got there, I got out of the car, climbed into the bed of the truck, and cried, refusing to drive anymore. I think I’ve only let my dad ride in the passenger seat of the car with me driving about 2 or 3 times since.
got your own digital camera? I still use Jerry’s castoffs. Don’t have my own camera yet. Hoping to change that sometime this year, but so far Jerry’s castoffs have been pretty good cameras. 🙂
how old are you now? 33