How did Dick Richards know I love to play tag! Or at least I did in my younger days . . .thank goodness we're playing virtual tag now.
Getting tagged brings back a flood of childhood memories . . . how much I loved to run. I was one of the fastest runners in my school and neighborhood - all for fun though, since they didn't have schools sports for girls (pre-Title 9). I've since lived vicariously through my daughters, who did track, cross country, and soccer.
But back to the game of tag - here are 5 things you most likely don't know about me.
1) I grew up on a dead end street. In my well-rounded childhood, I played with my Shirley Temple doll (Shirley who?) and served as the resident tomboy, (much like Kammie) since I had no girl neighbors to play with. So the boys and I, along with my sis, ruled the street, playing touch football, baseball, kickball, and of course freeze tag day and night.
2) My father's side of the family is all Irish, and my mother's side all Italian. Due to the Catholic influence, we have large families, and scads of cousins. My Irish grandparents were invited to JFK's inaugural party, and I can remember as a 9 year old seeing the framed invitation they kept hanging on their wall, along with a picture of the two of them in their inaugural duds. I wonder whatever happened to those framed pieces . . . will have to ask my 80 yr. old Dad.
3) Okay, this may not come as a surprise since I mention it briefly in my blog bio, but I was born and raised an Ohio State Football Fan. What you don't know is why. Yes, I grew up north of Columbus, Ohio. And my father and uncles on both sides of the family graduated from OSU. The fact that my Catholic High School football team earned State Champ Title 2 years running while I was in high school didn't hurt the football habit either.
What cemented it was knowing my Italian uncle was a first string player on the OSU football team in the late 40's. So I grew up listening to my father yell at Woody Hayes, and my grandmother cheer for the bucks until she was 100 years old. My parents, and my mother's surviving sibs still attend the games (they range in age from 75-85!).
This is a sweetly sublime time for Buckeye fans all over. Never in my whole life have I witnessed such a streak of perfection since coach Jim Tressel took over 6 years ago. To the #1 team in the country!
4) I love grated Parmesan cheese on popcorn! My kids adore it, and their friends in high school and college became addicted to it. Here's how it works. Get yourself a Westbend Stir Crazy popper - the kind that uses vegetable oil to pop the corn in. ("Dry" popcorn poppers do not work). After the corn has popped, do not put butter it! Put the popcorn in an individual bowl, sprinkle on some grated Parmesan cheese (the cheap kind that comes in a plastic jar), then add a touch of popcorn salt. Mix it up a bit with your hands if you want. I usually have 3 bowlfuls of the stuff. It goes really well with wine too!
5) I lost my wedding ring set while sitting in the ocean water's edge at high tide in Maui in 1975. I was heartbroken as I shared the news with my spouse of 18 months. With determination, we headed back to our hotel and asked for tools to look for my missing ring. We went back at low tide, searching to no avail. That evening we decided to get up very early the next morning, to search again at low tide. Call us hopeless, naive romantics. We each said our silent prayers, unknown to one another.
The next morning, a couple of minutes after heading out to the beach, my husband felt his eyes being pulled in a specific direction, as if by some unseen force. He reached down, saw an indentation in the sand, and pulled up my rings! We were speechless as this miracle manifested in front of our eyes. I figured then that this guy was a keeper. 32 years and counting.
Well, it's time to pass the tag baton on - I'm tagging Amanda Murphy, Halina Goldstein, Starbucker, Suzanne Falter-Barns, and Carol Ross. Put your running shoes on!
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