Sunday Stealing

Join us with Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World". . Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Her promise to us is that she will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

1. What is the farthest you have ever traveled? I've been to Israel 3 times. It is a long flight! The first two times I went, we flew to Newark and then had a direct flight from Newark to Tel Aviv. Last year, we flew to Frankfurt, Germany and changed planes and flew on to Tel Aviv.

2. Who did you date while in high school? His name was Jimmy. I've been trying to remember if I ever dated anyone else in high school. It was a long time ago!!
3. What is one of the worst trips you've ever taken? What went wrong? Our honeymoon! Seriously! We flew to Nassau and we couldn't check in yet and Mark made us sit in the lobby with our luggage. On the plane home, they had to do repairs and it was dripping water on me. Several little things like that happened and I can laugh about them now (this was 37 years ago). We married on a Saturday and sometime around mid-week, I had a complete and total sobbing meltdown. I think things were better after that! When my husband was growing up, the owner of the company where his dad worked loaned Mark's family their Winnebago and they planned to go out west and see all the sights! They made it to Louisiana and it basically blew up (not like the movies - but there was smoke!). They turned around and came home. Mark's mom said she had washed and ironed clothes for weeks to get 4 children and two adults ready. All of those clothes had to be re-washed because they smelled of smoke. I'm not sure their daddy ever went on another vacation.
4. How do you like to spend a lazy day? If it is sunny, I love to be sitting outside reading a book soaking up sunshine. If it is raining, I love to be curled up in my chair reading! You did say a LAZY day, right?
5. How old were you when you found out that JFK had been assassinated? How did it affect you? I was 5 years old and like most five year olds back then, I was pretty oblivious.
6. Who has been one of the most important people in your life? This is a hard question -- my daddy would be one. I've also had a few school teachers/college professors and a few teachers/pastors in church who have profoundly shaped me.
7. What is one trait you would most like to improve in yourself? When I'm involved in a great conversation and I get excited . . . I often interrupt the other person. It is a horrible habit and I hate when someone does it to me. 
8. Did you date someone in college? This question should be "how many?" I dated a lot back then.
9. What was your dream car? I always wanted a Mercedes sports car but back in the fall of 2019, my hubby said I could buy anything I wanted (let me say, there was a price range and he wanted it to be a certain size for traveling). I purchased a black Lincoln Nautilus and I love it. It is very much a "luxury" vehicle with lots of bells and whistles.
10. Did you have a family member you wish you'd gotten to know better? My mom died when I was 14 and my dad died when I was 25 and I would love to talk to them as an adult. I also would have loved to hear stories from my mother's mother and my daddy's parents. I was the youngest grandchild on my daddy's side of the family so I was always the "little kid." Now I wish I knew the stories of both sides of my family.

my parents with me when I was

very young

this was my Granny George, my

mom's mom. I would love

to hear her story because

I think it was a doozy.

11. Tell me about your greatest gardening success. The first year that Mark and I were married we planted an actual garden with tomatoes and broccoli and other things. I loved eating that fresh broccoli. I've also had some hibiscus that are over 20 years old but I can't really take credit for their longevity. In the summer, Mark goes out and waters them every day and he moves them into the garage for the winter and moves them to the front porch for the summer. This past summer, I babied my hydrangeas and they were gorgeous.

One of the hibiscus is in that corner of

the porch

12. What was your Dad like when you were a child? My daddy knew and used more curse words than you can imagine. You've heard the old expression, "he could cuss like a sailor." Well, my daddy was in the SeaBees in WW2 and he was a sailor and could certainly cuss like one.
13. What is the best job you've ever had? I sure do love the job I have now. It is interesting that the last 16 years of my jobs have been the best! I worked at South Central Bell and then American Bell and then AT&T (divestiture!). I worked with some great folks. One in particular is no longer with us but his name was Mel and he was pretty amazing! Now I'm the assistant to the senior pastor at our church and I love my job. I truly love my job!
14. What are your favorite songs? I'm horrible with music. I go through spells where I listen and I have some playlists on my phone. I like all sorts of music - jazz, contemporary Christian, even old hymns. But then I also like Maroon 5 and Pink and Beyoncé. Those three are on one of my playlists.
15. If you could choose any talents to have, what would they be? Speaking of music, it would be so cool to be able to sing well. Two of my sister-in-laws and my daughter all paint beautifully and that would be a cool talent, too.