Two Dozen Things About Me

Besides being a closet redneck as I stated earlier, here are 24 things about yours truly. In no particular order, they are:



1. Sitting in a yellow school bus has the power to restore to me the joy of my salvation. It was in 1977, a month before I turned 12, that I went to an old-fashioned tent revival service in Elkton, MD . The "altar" was a yellow school bus parked behind the tent. Jesus became my Savior that day.
2. I had three grandmothers. One is still alive. From Granny I got my love for swimming and diving, from Grandma I got my love for old hymns and new dolls, and from Mayme a belief that it's okay to give 7-Up to a five-month-old with an upset tummy.
3. I won't live in a house without a basement. Thanks, Kansas.
4. I love the sound of my husband's voice on the phone.
5. My favorite way to sip a cold drink is from a clear wine glass. Even ice water with a lemon wedge tastes better from a wine glass.
6. I have a mild case of numeric dyslexia.
5. See what I mean?
7. I don't care for facial hair at all. Particularly on women.
8. Flying is one of my greatest thrills. The bigger the jet, the bigger the thrill.
9. I have a few fears (by God's grace, fewer than I used to have). I fear falling, dimentia in myself or a loved one, the ocean, and choking.
10. I nearly drowned with two of my children several years ago. Last summer I saw a small shark swimming within a few feet of me in the knee-deep water at Myrtle Beach. Hence two of the fears in #9.
11. I can do ventriloquism.
12. I once almost burned down my neighbor's barn. I was 9, and said yes when my friend Paula asked, "Wanna smoke some cigarettes in the hayloft? My parents aren't home." We went up there, lit our cigarettes, and then thought we heard footsteps on the ladder. I threw my cigarette down and hid behind a haystack. Paula stomped out the ankle-high flame that this moron ignited. The footsteps were a figment of our imaginations but the scare was so real I've never forgotten it.
13. I sometimes wish I had more children.
14. Five hours before my father-in-law died, I dreamed it. I woke at 2 a.m from the horrifying dream and couldn't bear to tell Paul. At 7:00 the phone rang. "Dad's dead," Paul's brother told him. "They found him slumped over the wheel of his work truck. Heart attack."
15. Up until about 10 years ago, I was creeped out by--and skeptical of-- the gift of interpretation of tongues. Then God gave me the gift. Tongues spoken in a corporate church service almost always come to my ears as English. Oddly enough, I don't speak in tongues.
16. One evening in May, 1996, I was at care group and heard a med-evac helicopter fly overhead. I had a terrible feeling it was transporting someone I knew. I asked the group to please pray. The next morning my mom called and reported the sad news that the father of my best friend in high school had been killed by a drunk driver on Rt. 1. He and two other passengers were killed. Margaret Ann's mom survived, but has never been the same. She had more broken bones than Maryland's Shock Trauma had ever seen in one patient.
17. I think in typewriter keys. As people are talking to me, I picture their words as individual letters on the computer keyboard, punctuation included.
18. I think about heaven a lot.
19. One of these days I would love to ride horseback through Estes Park, Colorado. It was one of my favorite childhood memories.
20. As long as I grow a flower garden, it will always have purple.
21. I enjoy planning kids' parties more than hosting them, and hosting adult parties more than planning them.
23. I own an enormous assortment of greeting cards.
24. I don't think I could live long without a dog.

There you have it. If you've read all read 24 without falling asleep, you're tagged!