After Sarah posted 101 things about herself, I had little choice to do the same.
So here goes:
1. I’m not quite 5-feet-10
2. When I was a kid I fell asleep to my mother playing the piano
3. I am very specific about my pillow. I don’t like to share it.
4. I take my earrings off at the end of the day and leave them all over the house
5. I drive 75 minutes to and from work
6. I don’t drive a minivan (yet)*
7. J and I are the same height and have the same shoe size
8. But we only weighed the same at the end of my last pregnancy
9. My lips are not my real lips
10. I failed my first driving test
11. When I last saw my dad he was wearing a kelly green polo shirt and grey sweatpants with one leg hiked up to his knee (a la Snoop Dog)
12. I’ve been in love with more women than men
13. I wanted to name my second daughter Piper, but then Sarah Palin’s brood hit the media
14. I have a second-place medal from Head of the Charles Regatta
15. I trained at a professional ballet school
16. But was too tall to really consider being professional (see #1)
17. I didn’t really ever want to be a professional
18. And I wasn’t good enough anyway
19. I love to swim laps
20. My favorite color is pink
21. My favorite movie is Dirty Dancing
22. Is the date of my birthday
23. I never stop thinking (seriously, my brain never shuts down)
24. My son’s brain never shuts down
25. He drives me crazy
26. I coached a college novice crew team to an undefeated season
27. J told me he loved me on the morning after our very first date
28. My hair grows fast
29. I developed a white streak (a la Bonnie Raitt) immediately after my dad died
30. I have always wanted to be a mother
31. I worry every day that J will have another heart attack
32. I don’t like amusement parks
33. I don’t want to turn 37**
34. I cry at the Olympics
35. And parades
36. And when I’m really, really tired
37. I love margaritas
38. I wish my brother and his family lived closer
39. I procrastinate
40. I live in a house with two bedrooms
41. I love sleeping beside an infant
42. I miss sleeping beside my sweetie
43. I was a Brownie leader in college
44. I wish I was more patient, with myself and with my children
45. I have never smoked a cigarette (or anything else)
46. I have only been drunk once, or maybe twice
47. I am not married
48. When I read street signs, I automatically put the letters in alphabetical order (OPST)
49. I have a really bad sense of direction
50. I have become a better mother with each additional child
51. I went to an all-women’s college
52. My friends called me Jenno in high school
53. I love the feeling of a pen in my hand touching down on a smooth sheet of paper
54. I write obituaries as part of my job
55. In the past five years I have learned more than I thought possible about construction vehicles
56. I am a good baker, especially of banana bread and muffins (all varieties)
57. I am optimistic about my family’s future
58. I have completed about 75 pages of a novel
59. I think about it every day
60. I haven’t written a word of it in years
61. I forget how much I love to cook (when no one is asking me “What’s for dinner?” or “What is this yucky stuff?”)
62. I love to doze in the car at night, when it’s dark, and someone else is driving, and there’s a long way to go until home
63. I remember the sounds of the change in my dad’s pockets jingling and of his knees creaking as he walked up the stairs to say good night
64. I love making pesto out of basil grown in our garden
65. My mom recently taught me how to knit. For the second time.
66. I have used at least five different baby carriers in the past five years
67. And four different breast pumps
68. And a ZILLION different bottles and nipples
69. And none of my babies has been particularly fond of any nipple that isn’t mine
70. I am allergic to several different kinds of nuts, shellfish and strawberries
71. I love taking my kids out for ice cream
72. I wish I were stronger—physically and emotionally
73. I don’t own an iPod or any other mP3 player (did I format those correctly?)***
74. I wash my hands about 12 times per day
75. Sometimes I wonder if I am developing OCD
76. I miss doing the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle
77. I love going out to breakfast
78. I am a vegetarian
79. I went more than 20 years without throwing up. And then, pregnancy. More about that here
80. I crave time to myself
81. I crave time alone with my sweetie
82. I love linen clothes
83. I hate to iron
84. I own a sewing machine that only Sarah has used
85. I have almost no depth perception
86. I clip coupons
87. I hate carrying a purse (but not a diaper bag, strangely enough)
88. I wish Sarah and I could start each day on a run walk together
89. I keep trying to like olives
90. I’d have another child if age and my body weren’t against me (see #79)
91. I can tell Sarah anything
92. I hope to row competitively again someday
93. I love the smell of onions and garlic sauteing in olive oil
94. I struggle with wanting more time for myself and wanting to give my kids everything
95. I love my son’s dark brown eyes
96. My older daughter’s orange hair
97. And my baby girl’s birthmark on her cheekbone
98. I also love cinnamon jelly beans
99. I believe in fate
100. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner is my favorite book, and it opens in the month and year in which I was born
101. The whole time I have been typing this I have been wrestling with a baby who refuses to stay asleep for more than a few minutes at a time
*As of June 6, 2010, this is no longer true. My Honda Odyssey has been a life changer.
** As of Aug. 22, 2010, I am 38!
*** Sarah gave me her iPhone when she upgraded, so I am no longer a digital-music virgin.
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#11 makes me teary. I remember totally loving your dad. I remember sitting in your basement looking at old letters of his with you and both of us laughing at how he signed his name with a flourished Esq.
#15-18 makes me remember your toenails, or lack thereof, and how you used to pull them off yourself so your pointe shoes wouldn’t hurt so much, and how queasy that made me.
#33 is the same with me. I just discovered a couple of weeks ago that I thought I was 37 all year long until I actually looked at the year and figured out that I’ve been 36 all year long. Does that mean I lost a year or gained one? Either way, I don’t want to get any closer to 40 than I am right now (but we are still not OLD).
#94 and #101 make me want to give you a hug.
I feel all kinds of weepy right now. I don’t know why. You thought your list was a little silly or something, and maybe it’s just because I’m your sister and can picture each one of these things so perfectly, but I think this is the most fantastic list of things, not silly at all. Fantastic in every way.
I could tack many of these things onto my own list, and yet, many of them show how very different we are.
Still, #91 is all that really matters. And Ditto.
I feel the same way about my sisters. #91 is such a beautiful thing.
I think maybe #49 is because of #48?? great way to get to understand someone all the way across the country…CT, right? That’s were I grew up!
#53 is my absolute favorite thing in the world.
I love #62 also.