25 Things About Me

In Facebook, there is a note that is circulating where friends are asked to make a list of 25 things about themselves and then pass it along to 25 friends for them to do the same. My son, Wade, responded to this invitation with “This is about 24 too many.” I enjoy reading these lists, and I’ve learned a lot about my Facebook friends. While I am not going to jam up my friends’ walls, I decided to write my list here in my blog. This way, those who read my blog who aren’t on Facebook can get a glimpse of Jennie that may not have been revealed yet. Here goes:

1. One of my favorite places in the world is being snagged up in the blackberry brambles and wild plum thickets every summer as I pick fruit to make my jellies. I also like the blueberry and strawberry farms, but they are much tamer.
2. I eat very little of the jellies I make. I give it all away.
3. I love cloud gazing, and have been doing this since the lazy summer days on Winnona Drive in Decatur, Georgia, in the backyard hammock.
4. I grew up in Decatur, and moved to Safety Harbor, Florida, my junior year in high school.
5. I have two very creative sons: one is a computer animator and the other is a playwright/singer/actor. Both have more talent in their little fingers than I have in my whole body! Being their mom is an adventure.
6. I have a third son (my son’s partner), who is a singer/actor. He is always the first to call me on my birthday and Mother’s Day.
7. I was once married to a United Methodist Minister, and did a pretty lousy job as minister’s wife. I never really adjusted to parsonages or to the lifestyle I was thrust into.
8. I didn’t get my bachelor’s degree until I was 35 years old. I couldn’t decide what to major in, and then I majored in something that I really didn’t want to do. It was the accomplishment that was important at the time.
9. My teaching career ended abruptly when a student’s father came to school carrying his shotgun after his son had shoved me across the hall and I sent him to the principal. The principal did not discipline the boy and sent him back to my classroom. I realized it was now open season on me. I wrote my letter of resignation and walked out.
10. I was an orthodontic technician for a few years, and have cemented bands, bent wires, tied elastics, made appliances, etc. Loved it, but the pay was too low and advancement non-existent.
11. I earned my master’s degree in Library Science.
12. I have traveled to Japan twice, and I long to return to Kyoto.
13. My German Shepherd, Diamond, and I passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen test together. She goes with me to nursing homes, hospitals, and anywhere else I want to take her. We considered going for Basic Handling certification, but had a long conversation about it and decided we didn’t want to do it.
14. My photo was on the cover of a magazine (an association publication), and I was actually recognized on Peachtree Street in Atlanta by someone who had seen it. This was my true minute of fame.
15. I met my current husband, Phil, in third grade Sunday School Class. He’s a master carpenter, and the solid oak tree in my life.
16. I love baking cookies, and have an annual Cookie Baking Day every December for everyone in my family, and anyone who wants to be family for a day.
17. I am an eight year breast cancer thriver (I don’t like the word “survivor”).
18. I’m an early bird. I am up most days by 5:00 am, and enjoy the early morning hours more than any in the day.
19. Phil says I spend far too much time at the computer, but this is where I do my writing, and I have to write. At least, I’m not glued to the television.
20. I am a true introvert. It was a major AH-HAA moment for me when I read my Myers Briggs profile and recognized myself. I had thought there was something wrong with me.
21. I had twins who were born prematurely and died at birth. They are still in my heart.
22. I walk with a slight hitch in my get-along - I have a tilted pelvis and an irregular hip socket. It has never slowed me down.
23. I live in a barn that Phil designed and built (with a little of my help), on 5 acres outside of Social Circle. It is my sanctuary.
24. I love going out to eat.
25. I can roll my tongue.