It’s All About Me…

I have been writing this blog for almost three months…many people who read it have never met me.  Some know me on a superficial level, and others are family members who haven’t seen me for years…

After receiving a negative comment about something I wrote (sent in a private e-mail), I felt it necessary to let folks know more about the “real me.” (the title is tongue-in-cheek).  Forgive me if I repeat myself from previous blogs.  These are in no particular order:

1. I am honest to a fault…I will never lie to you (and believe most other people are too – I believe most of what people tell me).  By the same token, my tongue (or keyboard) sometimes moves faster than my brain – I sometimes say things that could be hurtful without thinking about the consequences. 

2. I take everything personally…this is why I chose not to pursue journalism.  I was way too sensitive!  I want everyone to like me!

3. I see only colours and shapes without correction…I’ve been wearing really thick glasses since I was 6.  It’s a good thing my hearing is sharp!

4. I have been working since I was 10, and started my first business at age 11. 

5. I was a single mom with three children for ten years.  Other than three weeks on public assistance, I was financially independent during that time.  As a mother of girls, I have always taught them (as my mother taught me) never to depend on anyone else for money! 

6. I have a congenital hip defect that means my left leg is longer than the right one (up to 2″ difference at one point)…I went through school having to wear a lift on my right shoe.  I have had two surgeries to try to correct the problem.  The legs still aren’t the same length, but I’m not going to let them cut bone!

7. I am distantly related to the famous Beecher family on my mom’s side.  They were strong abolitionists…I have always had a strong interest in civil rights, and have a good knowledge of the Civil War time period.

8. I have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time.  However, I’ve never broken a bone.  I did go through a glass door once when I was seven – that was five stitches, and hours of people pulling glass shards out of me with tweezers.

9. I taught myself to read at age 3…I still love to read.  I wish everyone could read!

10. I became a Canadian citizen (with the rest of my family) in 1982.  I am a dual citizen of Canada and the U.S.

11. I really like to cook and bake…I feed people I love!  I hate cleaning up afterward (I’m a terrible housekeeper).

12. I have never smoked or experimented with drugs…I like to be in control of my faculties (I’ve only ever been drunk once in my life…I didn’t like it, so I never did it again!). 

13. My family and friends are my most precious assets.  I will fight anything or anyone who threatens them!

14. I chose not to go to university, because if I’d applied for a student loan, my parents were expected to make a financial contribution to the cost of my education…they didn’t have the money, and I wasn’t asking for it.  I paid my own tuition at community college.

15. I am stubborn, sometimes to the point of stupidity (after one of the surgeries mentioned in #6, I insisted on going out for Hallowe’en with my leg in a cast from crotch to ankle – I used my crutches to haul myself up and down the 1/4- mile long driveways in our neighbourhood).  I hate asking for help (that’s the stoic German in me)!

16. I don’t have a driver’s license.  I had my temporary permit when I was eighteen, but never took the test…as an adult, I never had a car and depended on my feet, buses and taxis to get around the cities I lived.  I know I can drive, but frankly, cars go a lot faster now than thirty years ago! 

17. I spend a lot of time promoting businesses that treat me well.  But, if I am treated badly, I will never go back.  I will also tell everyone I know about my bad experience. 

18. I have spent a lot of my adult life as an activist.  I have served on the boards of many community organizations including: the Kidney Foundation of Canada, CH.A.D.D. Canada (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder), the Midtown Residents Association (Moncton), the Saint John Women’s Conference, and the Business Community Anti-Poverty Initiative.  As a business owner, I was on the boards of the Atlantic Home-Based Business Network (Moncton), and the Saint John West Business Association.

19. I am a huge procrastinator…I always crammed for exams at the last minute (and pulled off A’s!).

20. I would never intentionally hurt anyone (unless they were hurting someone in my family – see #13).

21. My favourite number is 27.  I don’t know why.

22. My sun sign is Cancer…I have pretty well all the traits associated with that sign.   

23. I find walking over bridges with moving water underneath really scary.

24. I like bugs that don’t bite.

25. I can’t stand loud, unnecessary noise of any kind. 

26. I do not attend church, and haven’t on a regular basis since I was 11.  I treat other people as I wish to be treated, and go out of my way to be helpful – I think that’s what God wants us all to do.  People who try to push their religion on me make me extremely uncomfortable, and I avoid them if I can.  My beliefs are my business (as long as they “do no harm” – there are a lot of abhorrent things done in the name of organized religion).

27. It bothers me a great deal that people who steal in North America often receive longer prison sentences than those who hurt or kill other people.

28. I don’t like to sit and do nothing.  I like to be busy all the time, even if it’s just reading a book.  I don’t react well to my schedule being derailled by events beyond my control.

29. I am up at 5:30 every morning (I sleep until 8 on weekends), and in bed by 11:00 at the latest…I have always been a morning person.

30. I am an organ donor.  One of my cousins passed away in the early 90’s after waiting too long for a liver transplant.  I would urge all of my readers to consider being a donor.  There are far too many people waiting for far too few organs…you won’t need them after you’re gone!

I hope that this random list has helped you to get a better picture of what makes me tick…thank you for taking the time to read it!