Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?
No way. I have a new job and major family disruption. My life has changed so much this year, see post earlier this week. Like most people I had some ups and downs this year. While I prefer to focus on the ups the downs are unavoidable.
Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?
Yes! I am involved in community theater, both on and off stage. I did it as a kid and picked it up a few years ago. As someone who is introverted and shy it gives me an outlet to be crazy and uninhibited.
Giving a speech is more difficult but I have done that as well. It certainly helps to have the theater background as I have some tools for memorizing and being comfortable with my speech.
I prefer either of those to just having to talk in front of others.
Each year I take out the boxes of Christmas decorations from the attic. Each year I always say that I will organize before I put them back. Each year I don’t. Whatever
A year passes (well 11 months) from when I put the boxes away and when I take them out. A year of activity occurs while the boxes sit in the attic. I never know what my year will be like when I put them away. Putting up decorations in 2020 (I did 2 trees that year just because) I never would have guessed what was in store that year. It’s almost as if we put faith in the fact that we will be there to decorate again, that we will want to. If you are like me you discover something that accidentally got packed away for the year. Or maybe a Christmas card you forgot to send.
When I put the boxes away in early January 2023 I never envisioned the year that I would have. The loss that I would experience. The sadness that would hover over this holiday season. I chose to do some decorating this year. I like the lights, especially since it gets dark out just after 4:00 pm. I wanted a few other decorations and I needed some supplies for a family party. Everything else will stay boxed up this year.
Maybe next year when I take out the decorations there will be a reason to celebrate, maybe a happy change. Or maybe I’ll be reminded of the sadness from the prior year. Maybe I’ll be comforted by knowing that I have healed, even if a little.
Maybe at some point in the year I’ll get the urge to organize the boxes. Probably not.
Are you more of a night or morning person?
I’m not sure if this is a typical response. I used to be a night owl. As a kid I would stay up late and watch The Tonight Show (during the summer). I loved the peaceful atmosphere of the night. Once I started working and having to get out of the house to get to work I became a morning person.
I prefer to run or exercise in the morning. Each day I have to run or walk before I start work. When it’s light out really early summer I will get up and do a little gardening. It’s now my peaceful time.
I prefer to get to bed early and get a good nights sleep. I sound like an old fart but it makes me happy.
Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?
My mom’s green bean casserole is a family favorite. My mom buys fresh green beans and painstakingly removes the end then breaks them up. This year a few of us helped with that part. Then it’s the traditional cream of mushroom soup and the crunchy topping. It’s simple but oh so good.
This thanksgiving she forgot the fried onions and couldn’t find any at the convenience store. A cashier suggested funions, we may have a new tradition!
Another favorite we make around Easter are cinnamon rolls. It’s a recipe from an old neighbor. Frozen roll, butterscotch pudding mix, sugar, butter and pecans. Let it rise overnight and bake in the morning. You get an amazing pull-apart, gooey roll. I’ve heard it called monkey bread. Whatever it is, it’s wonderful.
Sometimes the best recipes are not fancy but good comfort.
What’s your favorite month of the year? Why?
In like a lion and out like a lamb. It’s the end of winter and start of spring, things are looking better. We get more sunlight in the day, a lot of positive changes. Also, in my job traditionally this is when the year-end madness slows enough for me to breathe and maybe take a few days off.
As much as I love the summer and fall I think that there is a lot of hope in March. I still have time to get my body into bikini shape!
As a kid we had a toy box, I don’t remember where it came from or when we got it. I’m guessing it was there before me. It had weird padded wallpaper around it; not wallpaper but something like that. It was wood and the top opened and had wood slots on the top to hold books or papers. Of course it also had a metal hinge that could probably take off our little fingers, no safety then.
When we moved from our house we brought the toy box with us despite the fact that we no longer played with toys. It maybe held old toys for when we had young visitors or just held stuff, I don’t know. From there it was in an attic or a basement storing sweaters. It was a fairly functional piece. At some point we took the weird wallpaper off and it was just a naked box.
After college I moved into an apartment with friends. I had no money for furniture so I took whatever mismatched crap I could. The toy box came with me, again for storage. A few years later I moved cross country, guess what came with? It fit perfectly in my trunk and held a lot. Again, not having a lot of money for furniture it was a great little storage piece.
Another move cross country and into another apartment it went, my little toy box buddy and I. At some point the top came off as the hinge unhinged and the particle board bottom bottomed out. It still made it as a storage piece, though no longer for clothes. I have painted it, first white and now red. It sat on my porch to collect shoes.
I recently cleaned it, repainted it and now use it in a closet. As I was repainting it and marveling over the journey of it I thought “Wait, is this even the toy box?” “How did our toys fit, it’s so small?”
I don’t know if this stupid thing is my old toy box. I’ve made up this crazy Giving Tree story in my mind and now think that it might be some wood box I picked up somewhere. I’ll still stick to my story of it being my old toy box. Who else has childhood furniture with them?
(The “toy box” is in the background, clearly the dog in her raincoat was my intended subject)
Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?
Not sure if he is the most famous but he is the nicest. I recently met Henry Winkler at a book signing. He was so interesting and engaging and took pictures with 400 + of us. I was one of the last and he was super friendly. I usually am not star struck but having been a fan of his since I was a little girl I felt like I crossed off a big bucket list item.
What’s the biggest risk you’d like to take — but haven’t been able to?
I’d love to change my career or work for myself but I’m too scared. That and the whole money and insurance thing.
I would like to do a job that is more fulfilling than what I do now. I’m not sure what, maybe something with children. I am just not in a position financially to do that.
Introverted runner is a hugger. I feel like hugging does not align with being an introvert but maybe they are not related.
I’m not big on touching people but I love me a good hug. Not the side shoulder crap. I’m talking big smoosh, squeeze hug. Maybe because my circle of people are close that I want them closer. Though I’ve hugged people who I had just met and hugged because they made me happy. I chalk that up to being an empathy thing.
On the other side, I’m stingy about doling out the “I love you”s. My family didn’t do that growing up. We showed our love in other ways and my parents definitely loved me, it was a weird Irish thing. We say it more now but I don’t say it to casual friends. It bothers me to hear people say it freely, it shouldn’t but it does. I hear celebrities throw it out and I hear it as fake. Who am I to judge?
Finally, who doesn’t love a big hug from a little child? The love that oozes from that is so pure.
Introverted runner and other stuff