Tuesday Musings #4

Where did you grow up/live up until the present?

I was born in Colorado and lived in New York (Long Island), Connecticut, New Hampshire (Manchester and then Bedford), New York again (Staten Island), Utah (college), California (Upland), Virginia, Utah again, and California again. I guess you could say I've moved a lot (which I enjoy), but done so with little creativity, as there are multiple repeats on the list. It is also sadly lacking in a place like Borneo, Mozambique or Lapland.

What is your earliest memory and how old were you?

I don't know how old I was, but I think it was in Connecticut (see, you move around a lot as a kid and you remember your life as places rather than ages) and I remember jumping on the foam pads that my brother and I slept on, throwing stuffed animals at each other.

Did you play piano or musical instrument at all or sports in high school or were you the studious type?

None of the above. I guess I took piano lessons for a few years, which I will be forever grateful for because of the basic knowledge of music I gleaned from them, but I don't know if I was ever proficient enough to say I played.

No, I went to ART school. The only sport available was basketball because the school was in midtown Manhattan - no track for us, although it is a shame. When I remember how fast we all were at dodging taxis, I think there was some unrealized talent lurking in the student body.

I was actually so anti-P.E. that I volunteered in the library all four years of H.S. just so that I didn't need to go play basketball in the basement of the school. Somehow I don't think it is as easy to get out of these days.

I was on the math team and was the best student in the entire school, even doing better than the boys a year or two older than I was, but before you get too impressed, remember, this was an ART school, so the math ability was not the cream of the crop.

Is there anything that you did that you think your parents didn't know about?

When I didn't want to go to school, I sometimes put the thermometer in the toaster to try and convince my mom I had a fever. I had to be really careful to let it cool down a bit first, or she'd think I was dead with a temperature of 118 degrees F.

In honor of Mother's Day...tell us something that you learned from your mother that you practice today and/or something that they did that you wish that you had started to do with your family or life.

It's funny, I was just thinking about this last week. My mom used to read aloud to all of us seven kids at bedtime. Even though I was old enough to read to myself (by more than a couple years), I enjoyed listening to her reading to us. It was a different experience than reading alone.

So, I was thinking maybe I'd try to read aloud at night to the kids this summer, while things are a bit less intense (one can hope). Do any of you readers of impeccable taste who visit our blog (you know those two things go together) have suggestions for a book to read aloud to children ranging in age from soon-to be-fifteen to three and a half?

Remember wishes can come true!