Meme tag

Elysabeth Eldering from http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com/ has tagged me for my blog's first ever meme!


The ground rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.


I was told to come up with facts about me that aren't widely known. Here goes:

1. My biggest regret: that I didn't do anything with my singing. From 4th grade to 12th, I participated in vocal competitions, attended an exclusive music camp, performed countless solos, and gave voice lessons to younger children. I sing in the car now and with the kids, but that's about it. Singing is my number one way to feel good on a down day. I miss it.



2. I wish my family - my parents in particular - had attended more of my singing performances. It's one part of the mosaic of my life that is so very solitary.



3. My career before having kids was assistant comptroller, and I loved to chase down errors and perform accuracy audits. Currently, I enjoy helping others gain control over finances by writing budgets for them or giving them advice on how to live well on less income. Some people would say I'm slightly obsessive about orderliness. I think the exacting habits (everything balanced and accounted for) that I learned early in my career have stayed with me. I can't stand to go to bed with dishes in the sink; I like things arranged a certain way; uneven lines bother me on an unhealthy level, to the point that I'll not be able to do anything else until I correct them (like I have to fix a crooked picture on the wall no matter who's house I'm in); I can live with clutter so long as I feel it's controlled clutter; I can't think clearly when I feel like I don't have control over my environment. It's just a quirk about me that most people don't notice.



4. I married a racecar driver. He's retired now, but the restless spirit is still in his blood.



5. One of the most rewarding experiences of my life has been homeschooling my son (12) and daughter (9). My son will be attending public school this fall for the first time in his life.



6. My husband is my best friend. He's my split-apart, the voice in my head when I'm alone, and as vital to me as the air I breathe.



7. I was born with adrenal insufficiency, and spent the first 6 months of my life mainly in the hospital. At 6 months of age, my adrenals decided to wake up and work. Then on my 40th birthday my adrenals began to fail again, only we didn't know that's what was happening. I spent my 41st birthday in the hospital. The last two years have been a roller-coaster ride of doctors, tests, and medications.



8. I miss my grandmother, Bernice Dorothy Hackett Green, lovingly known to all as Bunny. She died on Christmas Day, 24 days after the birth of my first child. Twelve years later, I still wish I could visit with her. She would invite her grandchildren over for afternoon tea, so we all have fond memories of tea with Gramma. Each year on her birthday at the end of February, rain or shine, my sisters and I, and occasionally my brother, meet at her gravesite to have tea with Gramma. We pour a cup for her and set it on her grave marker. Gramma could whistle a bird's song, do a Tarzan yell, painted in oils (though she had lost most of her sight to glaucoma), and when she read to me, she used a different voice for each character. Gramma remains the most influential person of my childhood.

Now I'm supposed to say who I'm going to tag. How very sad that I can't think of 8 people with blogs. Well, I know lots of people with blogs but they don't know me! Let's see, I can tag Melanie, Ellie, JC, Beth. Hmm. Does it have to be a blogger? I haven't come up with 8 yet....