15 Random Facts

A fellow blogger, Nancy, suggested this activity.  It is nice to remember that we really are more than our cancer.

1.  My first child came 20 days after her due date and took three days of labor to finally join us.  To this day, she is a little wary of new situations.

2.  I have completed one marathon, two Olympic distance triathlons, several sprint triathlons, two half marathons, and many 5k and 10k races.  I also swam across the Columbia River in Hood River, OR where the river is one mile wide.

3.  I spent five years of my twenties deckhanding, dishwashing, and mostly being the cook on large sailboats.  I crossed the Atlantic twice, circumnavigated Newfoundland, and enjoyed a lot of time in the Caribbean as well.

4.  I am Jewish and until my generation, no one in my family had ever intermarried.  Both of my brothers, my cousin, and I married non-Jews.

5.  I owned a small, independent bookstore for thirteen years!  It was the best job ever, until it just wasn't any more.  It was not internet shopping that killed it for me.  I noticed the bad downturn when the Kindle came around.

6.  I spent seven years serving as an elected school board member.  Though it's hard to use the word "like" to describe how I felt about doing it, I was incredibly glad to be able to do it.

7.  I still LOVE Bruce Springsteen, and have since I was twelve years old.

8.  My favorite food might be good old fashioned layer cake, and I make it really well.  Fortunately so does my daughter.

9.  I LOVE practicing yoga. Period.

10.  My grandfather was an immigrant who had a small grocery and butcher shop, the kind of store we wish was still around.

11.  My husband and I met in college, but I was not enough of a grown-up at the time to appreciate a really good guy.  Fortunately, we reconnected about eight years after college and have been married over twenty years.

12.  I never got to meet my father-in-law, as he died the year before I started seeing his son.  This is a true regret in my life.

13.  My dogs are named for people in books.  Mia is named for Princess Mia of "The Princess Diaries," a favorite of my daughter's when she was young.  (These books are hilarious and wonderful, just so you know, not princess-y.). Louis is named for the very real Louis Zamperini, the hero of the amazing book "Unbroken."  You should read it.

14.  Our house contains one extrovert and three introverts.  My husband is the extrovert.

15.  I don't usually like these list-y things, but this one spoke to me.