- I am 52 years old. Hard to believe! To me anyways. I am the mother of 2 wonderful children-grown children and very proud of both of them. One is a teacher (followed in her parents footsteps) and the other is a merchandising manager for a comic book store. I am a wife of 28 years to a great husband who puts up with me-the good and the bad. (I am sure the bad probably outweighs the good many days.) I am the oldest of 4 children-3 girls and a little brother.
- I spent 30 years teaching-my passion, my love, my life. I loved first grade the best but enjoyed all the other levels as well.
- I have a sarcastic sense of humor, which can be funny but can also hurt people sometimes. I'm working on it.
- Animals have been a part of my life since as far back as I can remember. Dogs, cats, horses, pigs, chickens etc.
- I grew up in Davenport, Iowa (located on the Iowa/Illinois border, on the Mississippi River) and lived there until I went away to college in 1987. I went to college in Storm Lake, Iowa, in the northwestern corner of Iowa, as far as I could get from home without leaving the state. I graduated with a double major in elementary education and Spanish. They had never had a student major in Spanish before and had to create independent study classes for me in order to get my credits.
- I currently live in Austin, Texas, after living in the DFW area for almost 30 years. This is how I ended up in Texas. I went on an interview for a teaching position during January of my senior year at college. Ft Worth ISD had come to Des Moines. I bummed a ride there, interviewed and was offered a job on the spot to teach a bilingual class in Ft Worth Texas that fall. Where the hell is Ft Worth, Texas? I don't know but it's in Texas and that is where the love of my life was at the time. My future hubby was in Irving attempting to get on the pro golf tour. I'll take it! It's in Texas, how far could Ft Worth be from Irving? (Just so you know my understandings about the size of the state were very misinformed. I mean, you can drive across the whole state of Iowa in about 5-6 hours.) At my interview in Des Moines, at my interview again at the Ft Worth admin building and again at my interview at Charles Nash Elementary, no one ever asked me a single question in Spanish. What if I couldn't speak Spanish as I claimed I could?!
- My favorite fast food restaurant is Chick-fil-a. Breakfast only though. And diet coke. I hate Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hardees and Outback.
- If I could do anything all day uninterrupted it would be read. I have a list of books so long that I may never be able to finish in my lifetime, especially since they keep printing new books all the time! Currently my favorite books are: Sarah's Key (I love the Holocaust aspect of this book.), Still Alice (Early Onset Alzheimers is a huge fear for me.), Orphan Train (I never knew this was a real thing.), and Sister (best twist in a book I have ever read.) But my favorites are always changing as I read.
- My son has the best sense of humor. Very sarcastic, right on, perfect timing. I wonder where he got that? My daughter is the most compassionate person I have ever met. She wears her feelings out where all can see (and unfortunately can hurt as well.) I aim to care as deeply as she does.
- I LOVE to travel. My list of places I want to visit is almost as long as my list of books to read. I think there are probably more books than places to visit though. I have been to 45 of the 50 US states, Ireland, France, Great Britain, Mexico, Canada, Scotland, Italy. I am planning a big SE Asia trip for March and April of this year.
- My favorite musical is Sound of Music and I LOVE Julie Andrews. I sometimes wish I was Julie Andrews. Who wouldn't want to be Julie Andrews?
- I used to ride horses all the time. I have baled hay and driven a tractor. I have painted a barn and given baby pigs shots.
- I am actually a very introverted person. I am happiest to sit in silence, to be alone or with close loved ones, to not participate, to hide away. But I began forcing myself to step out of the box, literally and figuratively ( which I would have preferred to hide in my entire life) and be a model for my daughter who is also very shy. I saw her as a young girl afraid to go out and live and I didn't want her to feel that way. I felt guilty that she was like that because of me, my genes, my modeling. It is still very scary to go into group situations or speak to people I don't know, or go somewhere new, but I continue to work on it.
- I am retired, doing some subbing at my old school, doing some tutoring, but not much else. Trying to figure out who I am and what I want to do now that I am no longer a teacher and an empty-nester, since both kids have moved out and my daughter is now married.
- I recently attended a funeral for the mother of a good friend. It has my mind racing with thoughts. How have we gotten to a point where that is possible? That our parents are to an age where we have to worry about losing them? How do you talk to your parents about their plans, thoughts, desires. Seems like a tough topic.That also means that I need to be thinking about my own future and my family. How does a person think about the end of their life, about preparing, about making it easier for those left behind, without being morbid? How about those of us who are not churchgoing folk? Who speaks at our funerals? Why does it take a funeral to bring people/family together?
- I am a die hard list maker...can you tell? I will write and rewrite lists over and over, just like have done with this list today. Maybe that is OCD.
Well that's probably enough secrets for today. One of my many goals for the new year is to get back to blogging and so... Hip Hip Hooray for Day One. I am a success! Let's see if I can maintain for Day Two.
Best wishes for your new year and any goals or aspirations you have.
Jennifer
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