10 Things

A while back, I was tagged by Nancy with the task of creating a list of ten things one might not know about me. It takes some doing to rustle up alone time around here, but this is what I have come up with so far.

1. As is the case with most control freaks, I am highly uncomfortable being the passenger in moving vehicles. I toe the line between sanity and panic attacks by back-seat driving alongside the poor soul lucky enough to be chauffeuring me. There are very few exceptions to this. Morgan is one of them. She drives fast, but she drives well. I am another exception. I am okay when I am the driver.

2. I am a super fast reader and can read upside down (the page turned upside down, not me turned upside down) just as fast as I can read right side up. The only person I know who can probably read faster is Sherrie.

3. I secretly feel guilty that I brought two perfect children into such a broken world.

4. Tony calls me Deputy Dog and thinks I should go apply for a job as a police dog because my sense of smell is so overactive that I can smell things most other people can't. This is not a good skill to have. I really wish it was keen sight instead, but who gets to choose these things?

5. Cats kind of scare me.

6. Ever since Angus' second serious asthma attack, the one where he was actually diagnosed, I monitor his breathing at least four times each day, every day. I do this in the morning, at nap time, after nap, before bath, and before bed. I watch for signs of tugging for air, for signs of his stomach puffing in and out. I listen for wheezing. Does the meat between his ribs show with each inhalation? Does the space on his throat between his collarbones suck in when he takes a breath? It's tiresome and I feel like Shirley Maclaine in Terms of Endearment, but when you have seen the thing you love most in the world with blue lips and flaring nostrils and pale skin, crying and gasping for air you vow to never allow it to happen again. And you make sure that no backwoods dumbshit of a doctor ever turns you away without giving your baby proper care again.

7. A very superstitious girl am I. I knock on wood. I don't step on cracks. I take care of business when salt is spilled and all the other ones, too. I hate it when someone tells me a new superstition because then I feel I have to follow that one, too. For instance, someone told me last year that you should never tell anyone about a nightmare before breakfast or it will come true. Check.

8. I've pretty much always been the funny friend of the cuter girl. I like that role. And it used to throw me off when I would befriend someone funnier than myself, since my role would then be all out of whack. Frances and Sherrie and Morgan are all good examples of this. Not only are they the prettier girl, but the funnier one, too. Note to any men out there: combos are the way to go, fellas. A pretty girl who makes you laugh is a keeper for sure.

9. I hate eating shrimp because the texture feels biting off a finger at the knuckle. (This shrimp texture description was coined perfectly by a girl I once knew. Thanks again for sharing, Deborah!)

10. I honestly expect to stay married to Tony till I am old and wrinkled.

So here's the deal. I have no idea who reads this outside of my family and a few close friends. So, if you are reading this and you have a blog, you should consider yourself tagged and do a 10 Things List, too. If you do one, leave me a note so I can check it out. I'd like to get to know you better, every last one of you.