25 Things About Me (You Probably Didn't Care to Know) hahaha

25 Things

Not tagging anyone - if you haven't already done this meme, that is your choice.


1) I debated not doing this, as I don't get very personal with many people, much less dozens of people on Facebook. But so many others did their own, so I said "What the hell..."

2) I have no middle name. My two brothers don't either.

3) I was born with a condition called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita and spent the first two years of my life in a hip/leg cast. Surgery at about age 2 corrected as much as they could at the time and then I learned to walk.

4)By the time I hit my 30s, my hips and a knee were really deteriorated. Over five years, I have had one knee and both hips replaced. The knee was BY FAR the worst to recover from.

5) I fear I will have more issues related to all of this down the road.

6) Regardless of all this, or maybe in spite of it, I love taking walks.

7) Even with all the hospital stays and such, I still HATE needles.

8) 1995 was an amazing year of change for me. I started the year off getting engaged and by the end of December I had moved (4 times - really!), transferred to a full-time position in a new store, was married, had an 11-year-old stepson and a newborn daughter.

9) 1998/1999 was the toughest year of my life. If you have ever dealt with an inconsolable, colicky newborn, you may understand.

10) I have been an atheist all my life, but didn't realize my belief (or lack thereof) had a "name" until I was in high school.

11) I don't believe in an afterlife, either, or in reincarnation. But I do believe the energy inside us, our "electricity", isn't destroyed any more than our bodies are after death. Whereas our physical bodies slowly revert back to other matter over time, I think this energy inside us is released as well, back into the world. Not into any specific form, just out there, part of everything once more.

12) One of my grandmothers was in a nursing home at the end of her life and was quite depressed. I visited, but not often. Sometime after she died, I found a card she had sent me and reread it. I only then "got it" that she was very lonely and looking for company, and will always regret that the 16/17-year-old me wasn't able to "get it" when she was still alive.

13) My other grandmother taught me and my brother plastic canvas (sort of like an easier needlepoint craft) and I still do it to this day.

14) I wear glasses, without them I think I am bordering on legally blind.

15) I love horror movies and stories. Love being scared.

16) I have written two novel-length stories.

17) I am continually amazed at how lucky I was to have met my wife. It was a fluke of timing that we met and there were leaps on both our parts to be together. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me. She is a beautiful person, inside and out.

18) I am also very lucky to have become stepfather to one of the greatest people I know. He is a great man with a love of life and big heart and I am beyond proud to be able to call him my son.

19) I am constantly amazed by how much faster time goes as I get older. My kids are growing up so quickly. Too quickly. But it is thrilling to watch them become themselves.

20) I really like coffee. And I know I am addicted to it, but I am okay with that.

21) I have been running a small, daily trivia game since 2000. Sort of a hobby, but I have met some really great people through the game.

22) My favorite TV show of all time is "Friday the 13th: The Series". It may not have the best effects and acting and all that, but I still love it.

23) I don't believe being family gives someone the right to treat you worse than they would a stranger.

24) I have a hard time with "forgive and forget". I have a hard time forgetting and that, as much as I would like to change it, gets in the way of truly forgiving.

25) I haven't read as much classical literature as I want, and I am going to change that. I already have a copy of "Great Expectations" waiting for me. Can't wait!