As promised here is Pam's list of 25 random things-
I once kissed Roy Rogers. Yes, the real Roy, sans Trigger. Trigger was long stuffed by the time I had the opportunity to kiss Roy.
I have a baby sister. Well, she’s 51 now, but she’s still 7 years younger than me. I could not wait for her arrival! I enjoyed being her hero for a long time, saving her from tough kids on the playground. She is fair, where I am dark, she is short where I am tall(ish). But most importantly, growing up she had straight blonde hair, while mine was persistently curly and nearly black.
I’m an Air Force brat. Which is to say, I am a human chameleon - adaptable to most situations, people and parties. When we moved from Germany to Virginia, my father could not believe how quickly I adopted a southern accent.
My mom died when I was 26. My dad was a wreck. I was the one who worked with hospital staff to get her paperwork going on the eve of her death. I was the one who told the hospital staff that we would not be coming back the next day to complete the paperwork, even though the appropriate person wasn’t on staff at the moment. I was just 26, but I would not allow my father to be pushed around by hospital bureaucrats and they got someone out of bed to come in and complete the documentation they should have finished before leaving. I found my power.
Once when I was in elementary school, I was lined up waiting to go back to class after lunch recess and a classmate punched me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I thought I was dying.
My best friend called me in the midst of her labor with her only child. She was in the tub, her husband was cleaning the snow off their car. I charitably did not tell her then what I finally did tell her days later - she’d already been in labor longer than I had with both of my children, combined.
When my dad was overseas, my pregnant mother and I lived with my grandparents in Troy, New York. I went to a private Episcopal school with no bus service. I took a cab to school with Red, the cab driver, along with 3 other kids. It was so cool - an old style cab with two back seats facing each other.
I was in high school before I wore my first two piece bathing suit due to a cafe au lait birthmark on my lower back, the size of a quarter.
When I got my first two piece bathing suit, it was literally a yellow polka dotted one! It was so cute - until I got in the water and it was a little on the too sheer side. I was of course mortified. My mother took me back to the store where we’d gotten the suit. She was a she-bear! She had clearly been mentally practicing her speech the whole way there. They immediately refunded her money, but I think she’d have preferred if they’d resisted just a little bit more. That was the first time she stood up for me to somebody else.
I finally got my first dog when I was 11. We got a schnauzer, and so of course I named him Snoopy. Of course. I was a big Peanuts fan.
I love poetry. My friend Gina introduced me to the writing of Mary Oliver when I was going through my divorce. I opened the book up to her poem, When Death Comes and I burst into tears.
I am a really good driver. I got my licence in Virginia at 15, and then promptly drove one of our two family cars, with my mom across country to Washington state,.
My first car was a 1967 Buick Electra. I real land yacht! I traded it for a 1968 VW microbus with stars and dots coming up from the front wheel wells. My parents were thrilled.
I have been in love four times, starting with Chuck Lumsden, a red haired boy that carried my books home from school in the eighth grade. Sigh.
I love Greys Anatomy!
For one year, I listened to 30 tapes by Marianne Williamson teachings on The Course in Miracles over and over on my daily 45 minute commute. It changed my life. Through these teachings, I came to believe in the power of love.
For 10 years, I owned Starry Skies Farm with my ex-husband. We had dairy sheep that we milked seasonally. We moved to our farm by way of New York City, Atlanta and Seattle, so I was completely prepared. I had however read all of the books by James Herriot, so I was not surprised to find myself administering esophageal tubes to hypothermic lambs, or pulling little tiny lambs feet from a laboring ewe. It was one of the most exhilarating, annihilating, soulful, wonder-ful, pastoral, harrowing exhausting times of my life.
I was on the board of a brand new little Waldorf school in central Vermont, during which time I was also working 45 minutes away, raising 2 small children, operating a farm and opening a restaurant. I was insane.
For a spell, during high school, my son was very conservative. During this time, my good friend Heather joined our family for dinner at least once a week. I noticed that we regularly wound up in pretty stupendous political, ah, shall we say, discussions. On reflection, I saw that my son was becoming more entrenched in his views the more we, ah, discussed. I asked Heather to join me in ceasing the arguments and begin asking questions. “What makes you say that? How did you come to this conclusion? Say more.” Everything changed. For one, our discussions turned into discussions. But, more importantly my son was heard and that allowed him to really think about his views. He came to new conclusions, not because he got convinced, but because he was allowed to.
The longest place I’ve ever lived is where I live now. Beautiful Vermont!
I am a verbal processor. It didn’t happen until I talk about it.
I am a July child, a Cancer. That means I am a nester. I love to rearrange the furniture, paint the walls. Decorate for Christmas.
My middle name is also my mother’s, and my grandmother’s.
There’s two kinds of people in this world - Trekkies or Star Wars. I’m a trekkie.
I love stories - hearing them and telling them. I get that from my mom. I still miss her.