The Ten Day Challenge
Saw this idea for a blog challenge. Something short and simple, easy to achieve...just 10 days right!?!
Yikes tho - the first challenge is 10 secrets.
Hmmm - secrets, things no one or very few people know about me.
1 - I hated my name as a kid. Theresa. Who has that name, it's actually quite rare. When I was a kid...Jennifer, Angie, Jessica, Julie those were big and popular...never, ever, ever...did I have another Theresa in my classes - ever. And the nicknames that come from that name - oh that's worse. Like Terry - man I still hate that. I won't even acknowledge the person that calls me that. As a teen I went through a faze of being called Reese...that was I guess ok. When dating my husband, he started writing my name tsa - only cuz 1. he couldn't spell or 2. was just too lazy to learn it.....lol. But, it's stuck. I now am pretty ok with my name - mostly cuz it is so unique.
2 - I can not parallel park. I think the last time I did it was as a teen in my drivers test. But I would rather drive around the city looking for another place, pay someone money to go in their lot, or just not go to that area of town - then parallel park.
3. When I was kid, I thought Princess Diana was the coolest, neatest, person. I had dolls, paper dolls, and a crown and costume and would pretend to be her. I never got into the Disney princess' at all as a child - didn't pay any attention to Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty till I was much older. My fascination was with the real princess...and when she died, a part of me was crushed, that lil girl's dream.
4. I am a shop-a-holic. Not in the sense of spending a lot of money, just to blow it - (really people do that!!??) - but in the sense that it makes me happy. It calms me, to walk through racks of jewelry, or leather purses..never buying them, but enjoying the space and beauty of the store. BUT - it is hard for me to NOT buy at least one thing. Like it's my job to keep that store out of the RED...it could be the stupidest lil thing. I really notice this during tourist shopping...cuz I will leave, and I just must have something, anything from where I'm visiting. Tourist shops were made for people like me.
5. Speaking of shopping, I adore...dream of...LOVE grocery shopping. A personal grocery shopper would be the best job for me. I adore the organization, the clean rows, the sales, the different companies all vying for my attention. While some people can't stand shopping for their food and necessities - I'm finding ways to make the time go buy slower.
6. My first love was in 6th grade. I had crushes and boyfriends (if you can even call them that...like where do you date, the lunch table?) before CL, but he was the first guy I really liked. The first guy to give my jewelry and gifts....and the first time I had a date - sadly at the Library and, wait for it...my first kiss! He still holds a soft spot in my heart....wonder where he is now, married? kids?
7. Speaking of Library - leads me to my next secret. I adore books. I love reading, learning, researching just for the joy of learning. I have had a lot of jobs in my life, my favorite was with B&N..thoroughly enjoyed my time there. The endless amounts of books, binding, pages, stories - all waiting for someone to pick it up, open it and be taken away.
I could easily have been one of those students, who never.ever stop going to school..learning different things, different topic, different careers - just for the joy of learning. Yes, that is also why I went to the library often as a tween/teen - I would carry out piles of books - all kinds, just to learn and read and learn more. (also felt like i was pretty smart, carrying all those books)
8. Dance. I wish, if I could go back and tell my younger self one thing...it would be to never stop dancing. I walked away from it in highschool...and only now starting to get back into it. But each of us has that thing, that has been apart of who we are since we were kids...maybe it's a memory, a talent, a habit...mine is dance. Not the being on stage part...I could careless about that - I miss the smells, the way my toes hurt, the wooden bar under my hand, the ability to move across the floor...i miss the music.
9. I grew up a "latch-key kid". Hated it as a child. Carried my house key on a piece of red yarn, hanging from my neck, under my shirt. But before that I was always having to go to a sitter, a girl scout meeting, a girls club activity, a rec dept class, or any other activity I could be placed into. I had to be there just to be "babysat" during those hours I couldn't be alone by myself. I look back at it now, and realize it's made me who I am. Perhaps I'm crafty, becuz of my endless rec craft activities, or the time I learned macrame from the neighbor lady. Perhaps I enjoy camping now, from going to so many girl scout meetings, and camps. I think of all the things I was able to do as a child....swim, ice skating lessons, german classes, french classes, spanish classes, soccer....and my children, because they don't "need" a sitter...can be home to play - - yet are bored. As a child I just wanted to play, so many times.
10. My last secret is about a person. A person I wish was still alive, I wish my children could know her. My Grandmother...she was my world, each summer growing up - being a latch key kid...I needed someone during the summer to care for me. So each June, I headed to the farm - each Labor Day I headed back. But she remained. She was a strong womanly/motherly figure for me growing up. I learned much from her...the basics of home-making, the blessing of hard work, but also grace. She grew up on the farm, never needing to want, but also never wanting to want. I live in an age, where I'm trying hard to make my home cute, pretty, homey, welcoming...how pinteresty is my kitchen?...my bathroom? What handy techniques can I research for this kind of chore, or this cleaning item. All she had were basics.
She never spent hours complaining of the home, motherhood, chores, decor, hobbies,life...she just did it. I wish I could have her back, for my daughters. So that they learn the grace of a lady - even tho that lady may be standing in the kitchen doing her dishes by hand, wearing her house coat. They could learn the secret to the perfect pie crust (lard), and the wonderful taste of watermelon pickles, and they could see a woman who is sun beaten, tanned face, wrinkled with crows feet and laugh lines...but yet she is beautiful. Today's grandmother, tho may try to be "grandmotherly" - can't be like those from days past. They had a different style of life, a harder life. Our parents, are a different generation...it's amazing what you can learn from the "Greatest Generation" if you just stopped to learn. I once had a conversation with her, one of the last summers I spent with her, about what she had always wanted to do in her life but couldn't. Like going to another country, flying in an airplane to Hawaii for instance, or Africa to see the wild animals...like what was on her Bucket list? Her reply, to drive to the grocery store. She never learned to drive.
