I’ve been tagged by Tracee at blogfabulous for a meme. I’ve memed before here and here. Hopefully, you’ll learn something new! Enjoy, it’s the weekend… enough of this economic stimulus talk!
1, When I was little, my great-grandmother told people in Greenville, South Carolina that I talked just like a Philadelphia lawyer. Apparently, she was right.
2, When I was checking out law schools, my college roommate and I drove my 1984 Buick Regal to Philadelphia. As I handed my keys to the valet and walked away, it dawned on me that I had never parked valet before and had no clue if it was legit or not. Brenda and I thought that I might have just given my car away and we could end up staying in Philadelphia…
3, I did stay in Philadelphia – but without my car. I sold my Buick in NC (yes, someone actually paid for it). I didn’t own a car in the City until my grandfather sold my (now) husband a 1977 Fiat Spyder which we drove back up from Pumpkintown, SC. My husband still owns the car.
4, I never drive the Fiat because it’s stick shift and it’s tricky stick shift. I hate to drive stick shift in the City because it requires too much multitasking with all of the stops, hills and grumpy drivers. I have only ever successfully driven stick shift in rural Maine.
5, Considering how little I drive, I have ridiculous amounts of road rage towards drivers who don’t follow the rules. I don’t understand why people won’t stop at stop signs, why they insist on turning left when it says “no left turns” or why giant SUVs park in compact car spaces. I know it shouldn’t bother me, but it does.
6, Despite my penchant for following rules, I have been ticketed for speeding – while in college. When I got my first ticket, I knew I’d be in big trouble at home. And yet, when my father asked me what I learned from the incident, all I could think to say was “if I’d been going a bit faster, I would have made my exit.”
7, I used to love to drive on the highways in NC because of the open roads but in Philly, the Schuylkill makes me crazy. I’ll do almost anything to avoid taking it – including snaking around in not so great neighborhoods. When taking my daughter home from Children’s Hospital in October, I got lost in the projects (again). As a result, my husband bought me a GPS for my anniversary. It was very romantic, really!
I’m supposed to tag seven more blogs for the meme. I’m going with Jeanne at Idol Stalker, Jennifer at My Organized Biz, Farley at Behind the Vines, Jim at BossHatch, Mary Jo at The Seattle Traveler, Julie at Disney Society and Liz & Laura from Business and Blogging.
(Photo – this isn’t our Fiat, but looks remarkably similar!)
I do enjoy learning more about friends in these memes.
As you can tell, our family was active on all fronts. Each of my kids (two sons and a daughter) have their own versions and stories growing up in coastal NC. Moving twenty miles north of Wilmington when they were small was the best thing I could do for them. Hampstead was a cross-roads, but it had some remarkable people that took a strong “liking” to my kids. It does take a village, and we were fortunate that those in the village looked out favorably for our kids. Kelly had relatives that have left a strong impression, and for the most part a favorable one, for life. Her mom, my paternal grandmother, her mother’s mother, all departed their wisdom of Southern women onto her. Particularly my grandmother, whose wit, and moral observations serve the rest of us today. Her departure was sad as few like her pass our way in a lifetime.
Kelly has always kept me entertained by her writings. I have all her letters that she wrote home about when she left for NC School or Science and Math, Meredith College, and Temple, even though they were fewer. She had a very active and rewarding upbringing. I hope is she will past that happiness and learning to her three, and they will enrich their parents lives as much as Kelly and her brothers did for her mother and I.
Kelly’s Dad