I Was Given 13

On Facebook people are sharing random facts about themselves. if you like their status, they give you a number. You take that number and have to post that many random facts about yourself. I was contemplating not participating, but there is so much you do not know about me. i know you want more!  

I was given 13. 

1. I've had a job since I was 8 years old. My first job was working as a papergirl for the Lawrence Journal World in Lawrence, KS. My route had 125 houses. When I began delivering/throwing papers, I was the youngest girl in the history of the LJW to be a papergirl. Months later my brother wanted to follow in my footsteps. At 6 years old EngineerBrother took 20 of my customers; the homes closest to our home so Mom could watch him. He became the youngest boy in LJW history to be a paperboy. 

I was eventually nominated and recognized for fantastic customer service as a paper carrier of the month. I still have the 'fancy' LJW jacket with my name embroidered on the breast. 

I've been chasing the dragon ever since. 

2. When my Mom was pregnant with MarineBrother, she told me during her entire pregnancy that she was having a little sister for me. At that time ultrasounds were expensive and inaccurate. Mom knew he was a girl because she carried him exactly like she carried me. When Dad called from the hospital to tell us the baby was born, mom is okay, and the baby is a boy, I cried. On the bright side Mom said I could dress him in my baby doll clothes anyway. So I did. He wore dresses.

 

3. My shoe collection rivals Imelda Marcos. Okay, not really, but I aspire.

4. As a child my dream jobs were in order: motherhood, become a photographer, and fashion designer.

5. My favorite OCD activity as a child was to dump out my Crayola 64 pack of crayons and put them in rainbow order by color and shade.

 

6. My closets are organized by type of garment. Within the type of the clothing is arranged in rainbow order by color and shade. 

7. My CDs are organized in alphabetical order by the artists first name. If I have multiple CDs by the same artist they are placed in chronological order by the release date. 

8. I used to have a list of criteria a man must meet before I would date him. Although I don't know where The List is; if you have it, none of you have permission to publish it. I remember the number one rule was "Must say my name correctly the first time and every time." 

I told J2 the first time I met him that I was only going to tell him my name once and he better get it right. He did.  It matters to me. 

9. If I were born a boy I would have EngineerBrother's name; he is named after my Dad and Poppy. My parents did not have a girl name picked out when they were pregnant with me. My Mom stayed up late one night towards the end of the pregnancy watching a movie. The main character in the movie was a prostitute. Her name was Averill. My Mom knew instantly that was her future daughter's name. She does not remember the name of the movie or the actor who played Averill. I guess I should IMDB that. 

10. I'm allergic to latex which is directly related to my avocado and banana allergy. Apparently they are sister trees; bitchy sister trees that got together and decided to gang up on me. 

11. I have an irrational fear of dead bodies.  

The first time I went to college, I decided that if EngineerBrother could earn his lifetime scuba certification I could do it too. I, of course, had the advantage of being a lifeguard and formerly swimming on a swim team. I was going to pass with flying colors. 

In the certification class we got to the point of removing the mask, losing it in the pool, and searching underwater with our eyes closed. Before I went under to feel for my mask the instructor gave us a scenario. He told us to imagine being at the bottom of Beech Fork with grass and sticks, brushing your fingers through the mud, fish brushing against you and swimming past. 

The last time I entered the water at Beech Fork was in 8th grade. My Dad told me to open my eyes underwater and come up and tell him what I saw. The water was murky. I could see his legs and other people's body parts, all a  yellowish dead tone from the dirty water. There were lots of lake-rats, ie creatures that live in the lake like fish; one even nibbled my toe. There was trash under the water, an old tire and tin beer cans. I swam back up to the surface. I walked out of Beech Fork Beach, dried off, and never got back in the water. The next day on the news they announced that a dead human body was found at Beech Fork Beach. I was justified in never going back there.

Back in the pool, the instructor gives the Beech Fork scenario.  I go under in the pool to qualify for the scuba certification. I imagine Beech Fork. I imagine the dead body is in the pool with me. I am under the water freaking out about an imaginary body. I hyperventilate. I swim up to the top, get out of the pool, take off my gear, and leave. I never certified for scuba diving. 

Last June, J2 took me snorkeling in Mexico. Internally I was freaking out, not sure that I could go through with it without hyperventilating. But I did it and got to see all sorts of sea-rats and sea-flowers on the bottom of the ocean floor. It helps that the water is clear, I would have been able to see a dead body well in advance of it swimming up on me. 

12. I'm terrified of alligators and crocodiles. I saw a movie as a child where a husband dumps his wife in a swamp and she gets half eaten by a giant crocodile. From that point on I get nightmares and night terrors. I'll have one tonight because I wrote about this. 

13. I love The Wizard of Oz and the Sound of Music. When I was a papergirl I used to sing those sound tracks along with any other pop song, that happened to be stuck in my head, as loudly as humanly possible. Monday through Friday papers were delivered in the evening, right after school. It was a joke among my customers that if they wondered where there paper was all they had to do was to step on their front porch to hear that their paper was in route.