Sunday Sunday! Sunday Stealing!

I'm joining up with Bev and the other thieves for Sunday Stealing.

1. What gets you fired up? I can get on my soapbox about several things – incompetencies in elected officials, our ridiculously corrupt Birmingham Water Works Board and our even more ridiculously expensive water bills, people who say they are one thing yet act like another, bad drivers . . .shall I go on? Or did you mean get fired up for a good reason? If so, I want to continue to host the young adults on Tuesday nights. I want to see the world.

2. What makes a good life? Let’s see . . .a home, clean water (even though it is expensive), family and friends, a purpose. You can have a good life without money BUT a little extra money helps, too.

3. What risks are worth taking? I wrote about this recently. We aren’t huge risk takers. There are some risks worth taking. A risk worth taking would be saving the life of a child.

4. Who inspires you to be better? I think our granddaughters inspire me to be better because I want to be a good example for them.

5. What do you have doubts about? I’m doubting whether I need to go on and get my BA after I graduate with my AA in May 2025. I’m not sure doubting is the right word – I’m trying to decide – do I need it or not? Do I want it? Yes.

6. What fact are you resigned to? I am getting older. Plain and simple. Annoying.

7. What book impacted you the most? As a Christian, my answer should be the Bible, and it has BUT there have been some others that have affected me a lot. Have you read American Dirt? Or Same Kind of Different as Me? My Sociology textbook and my American Lit textbook and my American History textbook have also affected me greatly.

8. What irrational fear do you have? I don’t like bugs.

9. What is the hardest lesson you’ve learned? I’ve lived 66 years so I guess I’ve learned some hard lessons. You can’t always trust every person. Even if you want to . . . sometimes you can’t. Mark would say “no good deed goes unpunished.” We laugh about that and we know it isn’t really true, but sometimes it seems like it is! Lightning can strike your house and it can catch on fire and you realize that things are just things and that life is so much more important.

10. What is something you’re self-conscious about? I’m self-conscious about my weight. I should do something about it! I’ve kept off 50 pounds but need to get the rest off. I’m self-conscious about not having my college degree – working on that one! I’m self-conscious about bad breath.

11. What are one or two of your favorite smells? I love to smell popcorn popping. I love to smell the beach – the combination of sand, saltwater on the breeze, sun. I love to smell the head of a clean baby! I love the smell of the library in my hometown (when I was growing up). It was a mix of furniture polish and old books and lots of wood. I have a hard time with scented things but I used to love my daddy’s Old Spice after shave. I also like the smell of peppermint oil and I like the smell of fresh lemon.

12. Have you given to charities? We tithe to our church and we donate to a few other charities, too. Mark volunteers weekly at a food bank.

13. What is the best compliment you have received? People have complimented my smile over the years and that always makes me feel good. I was trying to think of a compliment on my character – if I try to write about some of those, it feels like I’m tooting my own horn.

14. What chance encounter changed your life forever? I have read this question multiple times. I don’t know that a chance encounter has changed my life forever. I can’t wait to read some of your answers!!

15. What was the most memorable gift you’ve received? I wrote about this one other time. My sister, Becky, lives in Texas. I’m the baby and she is the middle sister and the two of us were living at home when our mom died. I was 15 and she was 23. We were very close. After she married, her husband (now ex husband) took a job in Texas and they moved. After Mark and I had been married a couple of years, we had twins and then they had a son who is about 8 weeks younger than our kids. Long distance calls were expensive so we talked on Saturday mornings. Mark bought a camera for our computer and a camera for Becky’s computer for us to be able to see each other -- - this was a long time before Facetime or Zoom or any of the other apps. It never worked well, but he tried so hard!!