What You May Have Never Known

My friend, Shannon, over at www.blogspot.windscraps.com, tagged me to blog seven random things about me. So, here goes:

1. I am a miracle baby. My parents were told early in their marriage that they weren't going to be able to have children. Apparently, my father had a low sperm count. In those days, there wasn't anything they could do about it. Once they got over their shock, they decided to try adoption. After they immigrated from Holland to Canada, they looked into it. They adopted my brother, John. After they immigrated from Canada to the United States, they began looking into adopting another baby. A girl this time. A few short months after they began the process, my mother discovered that, at the age of 37 (and my father at the age of 39), she was pregnant! On September 11, 1969, after much rejoicing from my parents, I came into the world, a miracle from God.

2. As kids, my best friend, Linda, and I had several goals we wanted to achieve when we grew up. One of those was to go to Europe together. That dream came true in 1987. As a graduation present to the both of us, my parents surprised us with a trip. Just a note here, as told above, my parents immigrated from Holland. My father's entire family lives there. So, in July of 1987, the four of us (my parents, Linda and I) boarded a plane to Holland. We got to see where my parents grew up, got to visit a lot of family, and also got to travel into Austria and Germany.

3. As a teenager, my dream was to one day marry a very rich mechanic named Joe. We were going to live in a beautiful home, with many children and two dogs. FYI: I am very happily married to a doing okay construction worker named Chris. We live in a wonderful home with two children and two cats.

4. My most favorite all time snack is potato chips with ketchup. Just give me a bag of potato chips and a bottle of ketchup and I am a very happy girl. I would also love to help it go down with a rootbeer float.

5. Growing up, I had a hankering for writing. I toured The Herald when I was in junior high to see the inner workings of a newspaper. I had high hopes of one day becoming a journalist.

6. I got my driver's license when I was 16 years old. I learned to drive in an automatic. That is the only kind of car we had because my mom didn't know how to drive a stick shift. I finally learned how to drive a stick shift when I was 36 years old.

7. Random things I am scared of: heights, snakes, spiders, scary drivers, very loud thunder, driving on hills in my stick shift, roller coasters and flying.