25 Things About Me

I never do the X-number things about me lists because I’m just not that interesting.  Recently a friend of mine did one where she didn't answer the preset questions, she just listed things she thought would genuinely help people get to know her better.  I liked her list because it made me want to ask her about some of the stuff – which is sort of how conversations in real life are supposed to be.  You know, the sort of thing people sneeringly refer to as 'small talk'.  I adore small talk because it leads to big talk in a comfortable way.  My list isn't as interesting as my friends – but that's okay.  Here is my list of 25 things about me that you may not know.

1)      I am the happiest person I know.  I don't often say this because it feels like bragging.

2)      I believe in the Oxford Comma.

3)      I cry when I'm criticized. And sometimes when I'm complimented.

4)      I'm uncomfortable with people who see their offspring as some sort of reflection of themselves. Nonetheless I frequently want to point to my boys and announce, “Look what I made!”

5)      I've never been to a movie theater by myself.*

6)      I know I'm intelligent, but I still feel a bit of a thrill when my smart friends appreciate my jokes or otherwise compliment my brains.

7)      Most of my friends are smart and decent people.  Oddly I can say this, and it doesn’t feel like bragging – even though I do judge people by their friends.

8)      If I give too much thought to an egg, both what it is and where it comes from, then I can't eat them – which is sad because I love eggs!

9)      My friends are pretty evenly split between pro-choice and pro-life.  It frustrates me that I haven't done a better job of convincing any of them of the legitimacy of the positions of the other side.  I would like to think that I have decent mediating skills but maybe I'm just fooling myself.

10)   I have no preferences when it comes to Pepsi/Coke or Mayo/Miracle Whip but I enjoy how adamant some people are about it.    I generally don't appreciate food snobbery of any sort but I seriously despise oleo margarine.  To the point of wondering what's wrong with people.  Which makes me wonder what other blind spots I have that I'm not aware of and that aren't so benign.

11)   I have bad habits and vices and flaws, but the one thing I do that I truly believe to be a sin is my negligence in writing thank you notes.  Come judgment day I will be able to scoff off most of my wrong doing but when Saint Peter (or whomever) asks me why I never express the gratitude I genuinely feel I will hang my head in shame.  I mean all of this (except the Saint Peter part) quite literally.

12)   I don't care who people sleep with or marry.  I don't care what people eat, drink, smoke, or swallow.  I don't care how people dress.  I do expect people to know the they're/there/their differences and to use them properly.  Likewise your/you're.

13)    My personal apostrophe usage is arbitrary at best. 

14)    Illusions, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon were the three most significant books in my spiritual growth. 

15)    The story of Abraham and Isaac will always prevent me from converting to any of the Abrahamic religions.

16)    If I found Stephen King lying injured in a ravine, I'm almost positive I would take him to a hospital instead of taking him home to keep.

17)  Apparently there are only 16 interesting things about me.  Or maybe this is one more manifestation of my seeming inability to finish the things I begin.

* Since the original writing I saw Tim’s Vermeer at a theater by myself.