25 Things

There is a thing going around Facebook where you list 25 things about yourself and post it to your profile. Then you "tag" 25 people on your friends list so that they will look at your list and create one of their own. After I got tagged for this by three different people, I decided to just get it over with. 

It's funny to notice the kind of things people choose to put up on their list. The design of the exercise is intentionally random, but it reveals much about the participants state of mind, or state of life at the time when they write their list. As I often say about such lists, they provide a fascinating psychological profile. I have no idea what that profile means, but it is fascinating. 

Realizing that my facebook audience is somewhat circumscribed by my pickiness about my friends, I thought I would post the list here where anybody can read it. I'm not picky about who reads my blog. You can thank me or curse me for that as seems appropriate to you.

1.      Whenever people forward emails asking to send cards to cancerous children (or any other spamtastically perpetrated falsehood), I make it my personal mission to let them know it’s a hoax.

2.      I cut my own hair. Sometimes I miss a spot. My wife lets me know. There isn't that much so it can be hard to tell.

3.      I learned to ski when I was 42 years old.

4.      When my Mom was dying last year, my 7 year old made me a card. She drew a picture of Grammie surrounded by a heart. It said, “You are loved.” It’s my favorite and I scanned it and it’s my computer desktop.

5.      I can sing all of “Lydia the Tattooed Lady”. I often do. Out loud. It’s my kids’ favorite.

6.      I was baptized in a lake in NH. I remember watching the leeches trying to attach themselves to the pastor’s foot while he was praying. It was funny to watch him dance in the water and try to maintain his holy demeanor at the same time.

7.      I like snow. Really. I do.

8.      I suspect that year ‘round warm weather breeds all manner of disease and character deficiency.

9.      My family has a pet rat.

10.  I once had a gun pulled on me while selling books door to door.

11.  I can recite “Gunga Din” and “The Cremation of Sam McGee” from memory.

12.  I enjoy reminding my kids that people pay thousands of dollars to hear me talk, and they get it for free.

13.  I own 4 cords of firewood that I cut and split myself, and no woodstove.

14.  I look forward to the next time I can run out of the sauna, across the snow, and jump into the lake through a hole cut in the ice, at midnight. That’s good living.

15.  I am learning the joys of single malt scotch whiskey.

16.  I love bacon. Bacon is a gift from God, with the help of the pig.

17.  I never played organized official football in my life. And I still have my knees.

18.  One of my legs could feed a family of four in Guatemala for 3 weeks, possibly four if they are frugal.

19.  I have a dent in my skull, from jumping up and hitting my head on a low ceiling.

20.  I can flare my nostrils. It’s a hereditary thing. I’m waiting to see if my kids can do it.

21.  I once raced someone in a contest to see who could eat a paper napkin the fastest. I lost, but not for lack of trying. I’ve never forgotten that Peter. You up for a rematch?

22.  When swimming, if I attempt to do the dead man’s float, I will end up floating vertically, with the top of my head 2 inches below the surface of the water.

23.  I once walked 27 miles in one day because a friend promised to take me to an all you can eat restaurant. I could have walked farther, but I had to meet him at 7:00 p.m. It kind of irked me that I still had two hours of good walking daylight left, but hey – the Western Sizzler was calling.

24.  God has gifted me with children that are hungry for books.

25.  My wife loves me. This is no small thing. You have no idea. No really. You don’t.