Okay, for
Am Doing My Best, here is a random non-family-update thing to blog about, and it was fun! And now I want everyone I know to do this too!
If you were on an island, who would you want to be with? Why? Mark, duh. He's my super co-vacationer. Wait I'm not on this island forever, right? I get to come home and see my kids and friends and family? So yeah, on the island, Mark and only Mark.
If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be? Ooooh the nativity, I think. Or the making of the Sound of Music in Austria in the 1960s. That makes me sound like a total heretic to mention those next to each other in the same answer, but yeah. There it is.
If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? I am a good musician, but I have always been sort of sad I can't play the piano. So, that. Or fly, if we are being implausible. Who wouldn't want to be able to fly?
If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? Gretchen. I've always kinda felt like a Gretchen. Yes really.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Pay off the mortgage, pay for my family's mortgages, buy one fancy gift each for my favorite ten or so people, and then go on vacation. Maybe to that island we just talked about. (That is the first, second, third, and fourth things I would do, because I'm not a rule-follower and also I am wordy.)
If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? Hermione.
What do you want to be when you grow up? HAHAHAHAHA
What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up? I cry at almost every book, and literally every movie (Mark and Another Nathan can vouch for that. I cried at Ted. TED for crying out loud. I hated that movie! Yet, I cried sappy tears) but I think the last book I cried at was Eleanor & Park, and the last movie I cried-cried in, tears-in-my-neck, snot-soaked sleeves, was Saving Mr. Banks.
What do you miss most about being a kid? Oh, this will be heavy, but I do miss my mom and dad and sister and brother all living in one house. It feels like some level of whole that is very hard to re-create as an adult, although with my own husband and kids now, it is getting there.
What story does your family always tell about you? My sister swears up and down that I told her Hitler lived in our toilet and would come out and get us when we flushed. But I did not come up with that, and I know I didn't, because I was scared of it too! (We were odd children; I can see this now.) I really thought she told me, but she's 32 now and legitimately insists she didn't, so I believe her. Maybe it was the product of someone's bad dream or something and what was one scary idea turned into a joint childhood fear. Or maybe we just watched waaaaaaaay to much of The Sound of Music. Regardless, we believed it, we became experts at the flush & run, and our family still talks about it. HITLER. IN THE TOILET.
What is your dream job? Travel writer. Pay me to take a trip, see new sights, eat new foods, meet new people, notice things to form opinions about them, and then write all about it? Yep. Sign me up.
What cause are you willing to fight for? Correct usage of apostrophes. It is my hill to die on. (Also, equal marriage rights for all people who use apostrophes correctly, regardless of sexuality.)
What was the last national park you visited? Buck Island off St. Croix, where we went snorkeling last year on my brother's wedding trip. Fun fact: it is the only national park that is completely underwater! (Also I am a traveler who is full of fun facts! You definitely want me on alllll your national park trips.)
What was the first thing you learned to cook? I made a lot of hamburger helper for my family when I was a kid, does that count? The first thing I learned to cook cook as an adult was this peasant pasta with sausage and peas I learned from watching Rachael Ray on tv in the early weeks of my marriage. I watched a lot of Rachael Ray on TV in the early weeks of my marriage. A lot.
What book can you read over and over again? A Little Princess, Where the Red Fern Grows, Harry Potter, A Son of the Circus, The Poisonwood Bible.
Did you ever work at an on campus job? Heck yeah I did, I was a happy minion in the music department office (before minions were adorable animated movie characters). I learned important things like: 1- how to make a pot of coffee that doesn't piss off the organ professor, 2- there is no problem that can't be solved by sticking a post-it note on something else, 3- most grownups a generation ahead of me are scared of computers, 4- how to lie talk to prospective students/families about opera and dance programs that didn't really exist at my school 5- to never ever under any circumstances staple a check to anything, ever, especially not a band/orchestra camp application. I can haz mad office skillz.
What was the first concert you went to see? Richard Marx! It was so so awesome. I am not even being sarcastic. I also saw Boyz II Men on Valentine's Day in eighth grade with my (gasp! tenth grade! scandalous!) boyfriend. And his parents. Which was also awesome and that is also not sarcasm.
Who is someone from your past that you are sorry you lost track of? Oh, lots of people. I am all for looking someone up when I think of them, but the ones that can't be tracked down, even online, kinda confound me. The first one that comes to mind is Hank, one of my best buds on foreign study in Germany. Weird we went through this awesome transformative thing together, bonded over our young engagements and similar book tastes, and shared snacks on night trains and laughed til we cried at the automated lady on the phone cards for calling America. We stayed close through the rest of college, and then we got married (on the same day!) and he fell off the face of the earth. Sad. He was smart and fun and lovely. Still is, I'm sure.
If you could see 24 hours into the future what would you do with this ability? Go nuts, I think. That sounds terrible and exhausting. It would send me into a panic of trying to control everything (even more than I do now!) and oh my geesh, suddenly I am very very very glad there are some things we never get to know or predict. YIKES.
If you had it to do over again what would you study in school? I majored in English (with a double major in German) (HASHTAG USEFUL), but I think if I did it over I would do something more writing-ish. Yes, more than English. Like something more about journalism or media or design/communications. That stuff fascinates me now. Actually wait I take it back, I loved my years of reading books and writing papers about them and getting a degree for it. What am I saying? That was super.
What do you know how to say in a foreign language? Lots of things! Want me to write this blog post in cluttered German? Because I can! At one point I could also say "would you please take our photo?" in fourteen langugages because I am That Traveler, and fun! facts! are not the only thing I can offer to a vacation. (Mark rolls his eyes and then feels super glad we have a the pictures, so.)
What was your first paying job? I babysat as a teenager, and then spent my adolescence as a lifeguard, but my first paying job in the "real world" was a sales job for a company that arranged non-profit travel (disaster relief, humanitarian aid, mission trips, that kind of thing). It wasn't what I thought I was looking for when we moved to Raleigh, but I loved the lady I interviewed with and I loved the company's vision (originally borne of the Mennonite church which was odd but lovely) so I took the job, and was so glad I did, because it turns out I am totally good at sales. Not in a schmoozy gross way (I know the word "sales" is a big turn-off to a lot of people) but in a listening to what people need, smart at creative logistics way. I was good at it; my clients liked me and so did my company. I don't mean to sound douchey, just saying it was a great job for me. I did it for like six years, til Anneliese was born, and I would do it again.
(Edited: I just remembered I totally had a job in the "real world" right after we got married, a sports shop in Clemson, where I was hired to something something implement bar codes something men's section buying choices blah blah blah it was retail with a crappy cranky boss and it was not my favorite, but through sale samples, Mark did start to achieve his lifetime goal of owning All The Clemson Shirts.) (Said lifetime goal has since been abandoned.)
What is the strangest food you have ever eaten? I am not a super picky eater, but I also can't think of anything truly weird I have eaten. Once when we were on foreign study in the Netherlands, Mark made me eat a whole pickled (raw? I can't remember) herring drenched in raw onions. It was... not good. (Another Nathan says this is where I should admit I ate food in China that I couldn't identify, which even if the food itself was normal, is apparently not a Normal Person thing to do. So there's also that.)
When was the first time you saw the ocean? I am guessing before I was even a year old, and suddenly I am sad for people who might have a definitive memoried answer for this. Or maybe jealous of them, for having it be a noteworthy memorable experience? I love the ocean, I love the beach, I don't recall ever not knowing what it was or what it was like. I'm a Carolinian so that's to be expected though.
What is most memorable about your high school years? Laughing a lot with my awesome band dork friends. Being completely in puppy-love (and then real love!) with Mark. Constant muscle soreness from swim practice.
What word describes you best? Emotional. I feel everything, everything, like really really feel it. It is sometimes exhausting, but most of the time it is connective and good. I think. I hope? It means I love people really hard, and I wouldn't trade that. So, good.
