8 Things

I've been tagged by Shawna for the 8 things (facts or habits about me) meme so I'll give it a go.  Anyone who wants to play along is welcome to! 

1.  I've lived in 7 states, 15 towns and 18 houses so far in my life.  Although I was born in the middle of the country (Colorado), my early years were spent in Connecticut, Maryland and Massachusetts.  Later on I became a west-coaster and have lived in California, Hawaii and Oregon.  I love both New England and the west just about equally though I prefer to live in the west. 

2.  I love to travel.  In my childhood our travels were mostly to Maine for summer camping trips.  We did have two summer-long cross country loop trips in my youth and those were huge adventures for me.  Most kids I knew in Massachusetts had never seen California, so I was a bit of a celebrity after those trips.  I've been to three other countries- Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica.  If I had my way I'd be a world traveler.  I've always wanted to visit all the places I read about as a kid.  My longed for travel destinations now are the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

3.  We went for two years without TV when the kids were little.  This was the time when I discovered John Holt.  I bought the (almost) complete set of back issues of Growing Without Schooling at that time and spent the next two years reading every single one during the freed-up former TV time.  I still don't watch much current television and I know nothing about the current "hot" shows like reality TV or crime/medical dramas.  I do like The Daily Show with John Stewart and like to watch movies on DVD.

4.  I love Star Trek!  I don't know if you'd call me a Trekkie, because I've never been to a Star Trek Convention and don't have any plans to, but I love to watch the newer generation shows.  It started with The Next Generation, moved on to Voyager and we are currently on Deep Space Nine.  So, now you know what a geek I am!

5.  I had thyroid cancer when I was 26.  I've never had a recurrence and I've lived a mostly normal life since then.  I take daily medication to replace my thyroid hormone and that's it, besides the yearly blood work and occasional body scan.  I was in a doctoral program when I was diagnosed and it scared the living daylights out of me.  I didn't keep up with the work in several classes and when Mark had a job offer in another part of the state I decided to quit the program.  If there's one thing it taught me, you can't tell what life will throw at you, so you better do things while you can.   We decided to have a baby as soon as it was medically safe to do so and that baby would be Chloe.  I'm so thankful I made that life change.  The PhD. occasionally calls to me, but I've decided that this new life path is what was meant to be.

6.  I've always been shy.  When I was young, it was of the rather painful variety.  I would take a book to almost any gathering as an excuse to not talk to other people.  It's funny, this reminds me that Mark's Grampa used to call me Gabby just because of this!  As I've gotten older I've overcome some of this shyness, though it will come up in social situations that I'm not comfortable with.  This also relates to the way I'm uncomfortable with phones.  I'd much rather email someone or write a letter, than call them on the phone.  If they call me it's okay though!

7.  I can cry at the drop of a hat.  Just ask Chloe!  She thinks it's so funny that just about anything sappy makes me cry.  Especially anything with moms and kids.  Total waterworks!

8.  I really like dark chocolate with almonds.  Okay, that was a gimmee, but I think this is long enough! 

If you've read this far you must be related to me, or have something you're avoiding.  If you're into memes, go ahead and make your list and let me know if you do.