7 Minutes of Mama

A blog friend recently tagged me for a blog game/award.  I don't usually do those sorts of things, especially on this blog, because I fancy this blog one day being the "journal" my children will pour through to get a sense of who their mother was now....then.  So, in that spirit, I'll offer up seven things my sons and others might not know about me.

1. I listen to a single song on repeat for comfort.  Rarely do I listen to an album all the way through or shuffle my iTunes.  I pick one song, set it on repeat, and let it go for hours.
2. I watch videos and look at pictures of Little Bug and Little Bro daily, almost hourly.  I use it as a mental break/grounding technique when my brain is fried.
3. I was a darn good policy debater in high school.  My partner (who is now my best friend's husband) and I won more tournaments that I can count or remember.  We were ranked #2 in the state at one point and in the top 5 for our entire senior year.  We also made national waves when we were the dark horses from little 'ol Idaho who won the JV division at the Stanford National Tournament in California.  We were robbed of going to Nationals, not that I'm still bitter about it.  I also placed in the State speech tournaments my junior and senior year.  I've still got the state medals and the giant trophy from Stanford.  I gave up college debate opportunities to go to the same school as Appa.  I don't regret that choice.
4. If I hadn't have started teaching in the rural school that I did, I think there is a good chance I would be a teacher still today.  I couldn't relate to the students in the school I was at, and after seeing the way some parents treated their kids and the way those students reacted in turn (although that isn't just an issue in rural districts), I just grew to hate interacting with the students and left the field cold turkey.  It was probably a little cowardly, but I am happier now in my desk job with my books to keep me company at night.  Sometimes I miss it, but not often.
5. I will always regret not studying abroad.  Appa would have supported it, but I was so focused on getting through school and getting married that I lost out on a lot of things.  That was all my doing, not his.  One of the curses of a high school romance that lasts, I suppose.
6. I have to touch the outside on an airplane before I get on it, right at the spot where the door is.  It's a nervous habit that has turned into a swift moment where I "commune" with the airplane not to crash.  Nervous habit or obsessive compulsive tendency....I've never missed doing it for as long as I can remember.  I actually take Little Bug's hand and make him do it too.  Probably not a great idea to pass obsessive tendencies on to your children...sorry, baby boy.
7. I can't write in cursive.  I truly don't know how to correctly write the majority of the letters in cursive.  Sometimes, if I have to, I write in print with connected edges, but it's not anything like cursive.  When I was in 3rd grade, I moved from a state that taught cursive in 4th grade to a state that taught cursive in 2nd grade.  I truly slipped through the cracks and never mastered cursive.  Bummer.

And one to grow on.  Although after leaving a part of my heart forever in Wisconsin after 5 really awesome years there, I won't be wearing the cheese head we own this weekend.    Any other time, but this year, the wound is too fresh.  I'm a little sad about how bitter I am towards the green and gold.