Hope I Don’t Bore You with 10 Things You Don’t Know About Me

“Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true”. — William Ralph Inge

I hope this quote is true because my knees have been knocking a bit to write this piece. It’s not beautiful, but it’s the truth.

Truly, I hope I don’t bore you to death. You’d probably rather pull out your toe nails rather than read something about me.

If this is a complete flop you can blame Dr. Christine Bradstreet 🌴, Selma, and Jack Heimbigner for pulling me into the fun.

In a post-graduate culture, we all play the game of life. Here are ten things you may or may not know about me.

I’m terrified of snakes

I’ve mentioned to my husband, many times that if he ever wanted to oft me he could get the job done by putting a snake on me. I’d die of fright and he’d be rid of me and able to collect the insurance money, but he’d have to deal with the girls on his own. The girls are highly-spirited individuals. It takes both of us to keep the family dynamic in balance. I really don’t think he’d ever try it, but if he does you’re already wise to the shenanigans.

It all started when I was young. If I misbehaved I was told there would be snakes under my bed covers. You can imagine how carefully I searched my bedcovers before ever climbing in, especially if I was mischievous. I still have nightmares about snakes and when I see one I keep a safe distance while being keenly aware of where they are.

Texas is my home

I recently tried to leave and that didn’t work out very well. Spain holds a simple culture that my soul embraces, but as long as I have to be stateside I belong in Texas. We just returned last week. We’ve lived here for the better part of nine years, excepting the last five months, but we’ll get to that soon.

Boots and barbecue are a welcome way of life, as well as sunshine and heat. Sunshine makes me happy. Cold makes me cranky.

I’m an Indianan — I mean a Hoosier

That is to say, I was born and raised in Indiana. The same is true for my husband. I was born in Lafayette and he was born in Terre Haute. We’re college sweethearts. We both attended Indiana State University.

He’s still sore that he spent five years at that institution and I only spent four but graduated before him in the same ceremony. He doesn’t tease me about graduating with honors, but it is a soft spot that I turned my tassel first.

I can’t help it that the College of Arts and Sciences graduated before the School of Business. I take my English degree and give his BS right back.

My first jobs

My first job ever was as a movie concessionist.

Do you want butter on your popcorn?

I asked that question a lot. After a while, I learned how to thread the movies and that was an upgraded position. It also meant I had to work late for movie premieres. The bonus was that I received a pass for two free movie tickets each week. I was a cheap date because movies are expensive.

I don’t know if it’s still true, but it used to be that the production companies received all the revenue from ticket sales and the movie theater revenue came from concessions alone. Now you know why both the ticket and the snacks are so expensive.

While in high school, I also worked at a clothing retail shop and a Hallmark card shop.

My soul is in Spain

As soon as the girls got out of school last Spring we jumped on a budget airline and spent the entire Summer in Spain.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. — Charles Dickens

It wasn’t luxurious. At least not like you might think. We backpacked across Spain while hiking El Camino de Santiago with our two girls, ages 6 and 12. We learned a lot about ourselves and each other while only using the belongings we could carry.

We’ve always been a little weird, which is why we love Austin, but the backpacking adventure made us a little too weird for our family. They have disdain for us and our experiences. We thought we’d come back to be near family, but there’s little chance of that now. It’s great fodder for Medium stories, but it’s too raw right now. Stay tuned.

Travel

Everyone needs to travel to a third-world country to experience life in a different way. It isn’t expensive if you research and plan how to do it. When we travel abroad we travel as light as possible with only backpacks and no checked luggage. Budget airlines with no amenities and long layovers keep the expenses in check.

Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.— Gustav Flaubert.

Travel changes who you are.

Health and food

These are both important.

My girls have reactions to food and we have continual experiments about what we can eat or not eat based on how it affects our bodies and the behavior that manifests as a result. It’s part of an ongoing discovery process that began more than 8 years ago and took us through family counseling only to be cured with a prescription of food.

WeTalkHealthy was born for common sense health solutions and meal planning.

My spirit animal

My spirit animal is my dog, Bentley. He’s the best lap dog I’ve ever had. After our last dog, that my husband picked, died I wanted to choose our “new” dog.

No one chose Bentley. He chose us. We were at a local farm supply store 9 years ago where displaced dogs were on display for adoption. We walked around the corner and Bentley flopped over and wanted his belly to be rubbed. He warmed our hearts and he’s the best dog we’ve ever had.

Incidentally, my 6 yo’s spirit animal is a cheetah. And my 12 yo’s spirit animal is a roly poly or a lizard. My husband is a spirit of his own, claiming no animal.

My best thinking happens in the shower

No kidding.

Do you have a place to be alone with your thoughts? For me, it’s usually the shower. We could go into the naked and exposed, what happens then metaphor, but it’s really simple. I have two kids. When I’m not in the bathroom I’m generally tending to someone’s needs.

When I’m in the shower I get to think.

It’s how Publishous and PublishousNOW were born. I’d been in discovery about the next steps of my life and was seeking guidance before I got into the shower. There’s a neat backstory about the pub that I’ll share someday.

Before I got out of the shower I knew without a doubt that Publishous should be born. Over the next three days, my husband and I built the website. As of this writing, we have 2853 followers and 1.5 million website views each month. Our birthday is rapidly approaching. It will be exciting to see where those numbers are in a couple of weeks. If you aren’t writing with us yet, you can get started today.

I’m in mid-life

That’s not to say I’m in mid-life crisis. *insert chuckles* Age is just a number and a few people have asked, so I’ll put it out there.

I am 41.

Are you brave enough to share your number and a little about yourself?

I may be boring, but the world would be more boring without me in it.

I’ve enjoyed the life events of Michael Shook and Caroline DePalatis.

And, here are some people I’d like to learn more about: Michael Thompson, Tom Kuegler, Maarten van Doorn, Shannon Ashley, Eugene K. Choi, renee tarantowski, Cori-Leigh, Deanne Michelle Welsh, Teresa Colón, Erika Sauter, and Ayodeji Awosika.