10 Things You Don’t Know About Me

Not Much To See Here…Or Is There?

So this seems to be the new “thing,” writing stories revealing 10 unknown facts about ourselves. I must thank Lisa Gerard Braun for tagging me in her story and challenging me to do the same. Her life has been a little more eventful than mine. Check out her 10 little known facts here:

To be honest, I was hesitant to attempt this topic because there doesn’t seem to be much to say. I’m very open in my writing about who I am and what I’m like. And other than that, there’s nothing all that interesting to reveal. No shocking revelations, no secret celebrity pals, no sordid confessions. Nope. What you’ll get here is a collection of mundane oddities that help to make up Misty Rae.

1. Left or Right, No Clue: It’s not that I don’t know my left from my right, I do. I mean I don’t have to walk around with an L and an R on my shoes or anything. But I do have trouble with them. Maybe it’s an autistic thing.

I am intellectually aware of left and right, but when it comes down to executing, I need a second to process them. For example, if I’m driving and someone is giving me directions and they say, “turn left,” they better say it well before the turn because I need that pause to mentally sort it out.

2. A Bridge Too Far: I’m terrified of driving on big bridges. And when I say terrified, I’m not joking, I mean full-blown panic attack, bawling real tears terrified. I mean I will seriously drive 45 minutes out of my way to avoid it if I can. I don’t know what the issue is, all I know is the sight of a huge bridge, and knowing my vehicle is heading toward it, renders me a sobbing, useless mess.

This might be a problem when we move back east in the coming months. To get from where we are to where we’re going, I have to drive through Montreal and a really, really big bridge. My husband had better have his license by then, otherwise, we’re stuck on this side of that bridge. I guess we’ll see just how badly he wants to move, won’t we?

3. Oy Vey, What Do You Mean I’m Jewish?: I knew going into getting my DNA tested that it was going to be a mixed bag. I grew up being told I was pretty much a 50/50 split of African and Irish with a little Native Canadian thrown in. As with everything else in life, it wasn’t even close to that simple.

Sure, there’s African in there, but not half, more like a third. And there’s some Irish/English/Welsh and Scottish. There’s hardly any Native Canadian. And for some reason, there’s some Norweigan. But what surprised me most was the Jewish! Yeah, a not-so-insignificant part of my ancestry is Jewish.

Jewish? Where on Earth did that come from? Where do Africa and Western Europe meet Jewish? Whatever, it was a cool and very pleasant surprise and it actually explained a lot about me and my life.

Without getting into too much of the minutiae, let’s just say I was never keen on the strict Baptist faith I was raised in. I was never “convinced by Christianity,” although I tried. That’s not to say anything against those that are, faith is a very personal thing and for me, I just didn’t fit there.

I found from a very young age, I was drawn to Judaism. There was, to my knowledge at the time no reason for that at all. But there was this pull, this inexplicable desire to study to learn all about it.

I even went so far as to begin the conversion process but stopped because of that nagging belief in God thing. I can’t honestly say I do and I won’t lie about that in order to complete it. That said, there’s still something there worth exploring. I’m not sure if there really is such a thing as cellular memory but I know that the pull I’ve felt for over 30 years is something and the DNA seemed to confirm it. I’m just not sure what it is yet.

4. I Once Met Bill Clinton: It was at a speaking thing in a nearby city. My attendance, as part of where I worked, was mandatory. Good for business and all that.

He was older than I expected. I know that sounds dumb, let me explain. Sometimes, our mids sort of “freeze” people as they were. I froze Bubba Bill as the youthful, saxophone-playing candidate on Arsenio. My mind didn’t really account for the 20 plus years that had elapsed since that time.

I don’t think he did either. He was a charmer, I’ll give him that. And he still had that twinkle in his eye and seemed to think he still had that youthful swagger that could pull in the ladies.

5. Bees and Dogs, A Hard NO: I’m terrified of bees and dogs. Yes, I have a dog, well, a puppy. No, I’m not afraid of him. I’m afraid of unattended dogs. I’m afraid of dogs without human supervision just running around.

Why? No clue. Well, no, some clues. When I was in kindergarten, there were 2 Chihuahuas that lived next door to me. They belonged to Mrs. Manning. They were hateful little beasts, at least to me. They’d be outside as I was ready to leave for school and they’d run around, unattended (Mrs. Manning was at work) barking and bearing their teeth menacingly at me as I stared at them through the screen door, sobbing.

As far as bees go, that’s my mother’s fault. She once told me a story about someone stepping on a bee, getting stung, and then dying because they had no idea they were allergic. In hindsight, probably not a great story to tell a 6-year-old without a little more information.

Since then, anything that buzzes scares the living shit out of me. And I don’t mean calmly pull over when a bee is in your car so that you don’t scare the children. I mean, if it buzzes and it’s in my car, I’m screaming hysterically and pulling over in a huge panic no matter who’s in the car! My kids make fun of me by telling me they’re sending dogs spitting bees after me.

To deal with this, I plan to keep bees when I move to the country.

6. I Don’t Like Bacon or Peanut Butter: Yeah, yeah, I know, utter blasphemy, right? Sorry, just don’t. I don’t get eating salty strips of fried fat. And peanut butter, I don’t know, just never liked it.

7. I Can Strap On The Old Feed Bag!: I don’t look like much, but I’ll lay good coin down that I can eat more than you! I love to eat. Granted, I eat very healthily, but I can eat! I have and have always had a huge appetite. I routinely eat more than my husband, and he’s a big guy!

When I was a kid, my dad had a friend who was known for being notoriously “thrifty.” When I say thrifty, I mean he and my mother were invited for supper and this guy and his wife served a single can of Campbell’s vegetable soup (watered down to serve 6) and crackers. Anyway, this guy once told my father that he’d better get my eating “in hand” because I would put him in the poor house. I was 5 or 6 at the time.

I’m not a pig, I just like food. And I’m active and have a fast metabolism. I burn it as fast as I eat it. So I just need it, right?

8. I’ve Got a Hard Shell, But…: I’m pretty tough. I’ve had to be. I go through life like nothing really bothers me. I do the hard shit without a peep. But that’s only half the story. That’s the outside.

Inside, I’m pretty squishy. I’m actually very soft-hearted. Movies, TV shows, songs, etc. can easily make me cry. Hell, looking into my puppy’s sad little brown eyes has brought me to tears.

9. I’m Not Social At All: I have very few close friends. I really don’t deal with my family, (aside from my husband and kids) on anything but a superficial level on social media. My phone can seriously not ring for weeks at a time. And I’m okay with that. In fact, I like it that way.

I’ve done the dinner parties. I’ve done the “let’s all hang out” thing. It never fit me. I’m happy with my very small circle.

10. I’m Really Pretty Boring: If you haven’t figured it out by now, let me spell it out, I’m pretty boring. There’s no drama, no excitement over here.

I think I maxed out on drama and excitement in the first 40 years of my time on Earth, so now I’m done. To me, a super exciting night is a lively game of Trivial Pursuit and a drink or two. Or, if I want to get really crazy, a cup of tea, a book, and some 80s tunes.

And there you have it, 10 things you didn’t know about me. I told you there wasn’t much to say. And now that we’re done talking about me, let’s hear about you, Carl Parker, Jimmy Misner Jr., Joan Gershman, Lisa Osborne, and KL Simmons, I’m looking at you. :)