My Real Life

I haven’t done a Five Question Friday in awhile, so I thought, maybe, I’d give it a try today.

1. What is your favorite color?

So, it’s not particularly popular, but my favorite color is brown.

Probably because I love fall, and the different shades of brown and orange that come on the trees, as they turn, but whatever the reason, I’m a fan of brown.

I prefer unpainted and stained wood over painted wood, and will go for earth tones over pastels or bright colors any day.

I tried to dye my hair brown in high school, but it didn’t take.

So, my favorite color?

Brown.

2. If you could switch places with someone else for a day, who would that person be?

That’s a tough one.

My life is far from easy, but I’m not sure there is anyone I’d rather be.

Well, Jimmy Fallon.

Maybe I’d like to be Jimmy Fallon for a day, because I don’t think there is anyone in the world who enjoys their job more than he does.

I think that would be a good choice for just one day.

Or, maybe Kate Middleton.

Because I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have to cook or do laundry.

And she lives in a castle.

3. What is your very first memory?

I don’t know if it’s a real memory or something I made up over the years, but, the first memory that I think I have is from when I was 3 years old and we lived in upstate New York.

We had an exchange student, from Yugoslavia, who was staying with us, and I remember being in my bedroom, making a ton of noise, and Martina coming in and telling me I was driving her up the wall.

I got on my toy car and immediately began to pretend to drive it up the wall.

I thought it was hysterical.

She was not as amused.

After that, my next memory is accidentally punching my Dad in the nose on our porch in the house we lived in, once we moved to New Jersey.

He was holding me, and I was pretending to punch him, or something, and followed through and gave him a bloody nose.

He was not happy.

The one after that was when I cut all my hair off.

It was so long, I could sit on it, and I was watching Sesame Street, and they were making a nest for Big Bird.

I thought that made sense, so I looked at my long, yellow hair, that easily resembled straw, and got some scissors, and cut it off, above my ear, on one side of my head, only.

Immediately, I heard my mother coming downstairs to do laundry, realized what I had done and ran to hide.

I hid under the ironing board, because that is so concealing.

I was caught and oh, was I in trouble.

I was saved, only, because my Grandma was visiting from Ohio and she was a hairdresser.

So, my earliest memories…not my best moments.

4. If you had three wishes, what would they be? (And you can’t wish for more wishes. 

My first wish would be that my children would live long, happy, healthy lives, full of love and joy and laughter.

I just want my kids to be healthy and happy.

My second wish would be for the financial freedom to pursue our dreams, whatever “financial freedom” might mean for our family.

I don’t necessarily know what that would look like for us, but it’s definitely a dream for me.

Financial freedom would allow me to write, allow us to travel, allow us to do many things that we haven’t been able to do, thus far.

My third wish?

That’s tough.

I’d like to wish something for someone else, but I don’t really know who, or what, to wish for.

World peace?

Is it responsible to wish for something global without really understanding what the effect would be on the planet?

I don’t know.

So, I’d just hold on to that third wish, and really think about it.

And, if I know me, I’d wind up wasting it on a whim, in a moment of weakness, yelling something like, “I wish that for just one night I could make a dinner that no one would complain about!”

And that would be that.

5. Have you ever wanted a pony for your birthday? If not, what has been the craziest thing you’ve ever wanted for a birthday/other celebration present?

Funny question.

No, I’ve never wanted a pony for my birthday, but that’s only because I thought I was getting a pony for Christmas, one year.

I was an only child, and I was a sneaky, sneaky squirrel around the holidays.

Although I was able to locate, unwrap, and rewrap my presents by the time I was a teenager, when I was a little kid, I wasn’t quite as sneaky as I thought I was.

So, when I snuck downstairs to eavesdrop on my parents, one December evening, they staged a conversation.

“Do you think she knows?” my Mom stage-whispered.

“No, I don’t think she has a clue!” my Dad replied.

“How are you feeding it?” my Mom asked.

“I cut a hole in the basement ceiling and I push the hay up through the hole.”

“It’s such a good pony…it never nickers or makes any noise!”

Now, you should know that there was a large box in my living room, next to the tree.

In my 8 year old mind, that box was big enough for a pony, and so, I spent the remaining weeks, prior to Christmas, fully believing I was getting a pony.

I was a smart kid, but it just never dawned on me that it would be nearly impossible to keep a pony in a cardboard box for that long, never mind the smell that should have been emanating from the living room.

I was getting a pony.

That’s all that mattered.

Until Christmas morning when it turned out that I was actually getting a stereo for my bedroom.

Not a pony.

So, no…I never wished for a pony again.