1. When I was in grade school I used to fake asthma attacks to get out of gym. I hated gym. I wasn't overweight, and I was actually quite athletic. I've always loved aerobics, and I could do the Jane Fonda Workout when I was 11 without breaking a sweat. I've always liked tennis. But team sports gave me hives. The thought that someone was watching me just about did me in. So I'd bring my puffers, have an attack, and presto! It worked great with skiing, too.
I always promised myself that one of the blessings of being an adult is that no one could ever force me to play sports again, and I haven't played volleyball or basketball or baseball since I was in grade 9 gym. And I'm very proud of it! But boy can I kick butt in baseball on the Wii!
2. I used to fly across the country by myself as a child, starting at age 7, to see my father. The Toronto-Vancouver flight was 4 1/2 hours, and I managed it okay. But I learned something important: when you cry, stewardesses bring you chocolate chip cookies. So I'd periodically turn on the tears. It seems that I spent a great deal of my childhood faking things!
3. Diane met Bruce Springsteen and Dan Aykroyd; I've met Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson when they were filming Three Men and a Baby in Toronto. I was working at Maple Leaf Gardens, our hockey stadium, where the three of them had rented a box for the season. They'd arrive early, and I'd sometimes get to serve the drinks! It was kind of gross, though, because Steve & Ted would pick girls out of the crowd (everybody knew they were there) and bring them up to the box to do who knows what. Tom Selleck stayed out of that, and eventually stopped coming to the games. But the ushers basically acted as pimps on those nights, fetching willing girls, and they were happy to do so.
4. I've been inside the hotel where they filmed the original Star Wars. You know that scene where they're sitting inside Luke's aunt & uncle's house, and it's got kind of a round roof? It was filmed in Tunisia, in the Sahara Desert, where everything is built underground. I've been to that underground city. I even rode a camel there. Pretty wild.
5. I will always feel guilty that I didn't pay more attention to my grandparents when they were alive, especially my father's father. He didn't live that far away from me, and I could have visited him more, but life got in the way. My mother was always bothering me to email him, but I never knew what to say. I don't think I was very good with older people. But now that I am getting more mature I think I would have handled it better, but he's gone. I'm glad my children have younger grandparents that they can be close to now. My grandparents were well into their sixties when I was born, and even though they made it to their nineties, they were still "old". I don't really remember them young.
6. I went to an all-girls boarding school in grade 9 and totally rebelled. I didn't want to board to begin with, but I'm just not one who deals well with rules. All the rules about what time you did his and what time you did that chafed on me. So I'd start protests where no one would make their beds, or I wouldn't go to study hall. I still got great marks, but I hated most of the other girls and I hated the school, and I left as soon as I could! A few daughters of chairmen of Canada's banks went there, and daughters of ambassadors. I even danced with the son of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (our Prime Minister at the time) and danced with Jonathon Crombie, who was going to a neighbouring boys' school. You probably know Crombie as Gilbert Blythe in the Anne of Green Gables series. But in general it is a year I try to block out of my memory as much as possible.
7. My husband broke up with me on my 21st birthday! That's part of my testimony that I give when I speak, and I make it into something funny (though it has a serious message at the end). But it was so traumatic. We were to be married on August 17, and he announced in May, on my birthday, that he didn't think he could go through with it. I was absolutely devastated, because I was certain that he was the one that God had for me. I had to work through a lot of things with God that summer, to make sure that God was the foundation of my life, and not Keith.
Thankfully, Keith came to his senses and we were married in December instead of August. All is well, though I had a really hard time trusting him early in our marriage. We talk about this whole thing at marriage conferences quite a bit, and the poetic justice is that people often boo him! But I can also see how God did a work in my life that summer that wouldn't have been done otherwise, and it prepared me for my son's illness and death. God really does take all the crap in our lives and use it for good!
So those are my 7 Juicy Tidbits. And now I have to tag 7 other Twitter people. So here goes:
These women are a weird mix--some homeschoolers, some writers, some internet marketers. I follow a rather eclectic mix on Twitter! But we'll see what they have to say!
I was reading your post, getting some pointers/ideas for mine when I came to the end. I am so sorry about your son. I never seem to have the right words, but that is certainly something I just could not comment on in some way. God Bless You and your family and thanks for sharing. It has been a true blessing getting to know you through your blog and twitter.
God never ceases to amaze me. So often he prepares us in strange ways for things we never suspect will happen to us. At 21, you probably thought your then fiance breaking up with you was the worst thing that would ever happen. But God was there for you through the bad and the worse. He's an awesome God.
Girl, we must be long lost cousins! I went to an all girl boarding school in 9th grade (also hated it, begged not to be sent back), sent back for 10th and got myself kicked out halfway through. I, too, try not to think too much about those years...
But, Gilbert Blythe- I had the biggest crush on him- I still own the entire AOGG video series and books LOL
Thank God, He can take the good and the bad and use it to His glory!
Woohoo....better late than never! just finished my juicy tidbits which probably aren't so juicy ....at least not like yours! thanks for asking me to join in!
About Me: I'm a Christian author of a bunch of books, and a frequent speaker to women's groups and marriage conferences. Best of all, I love homeschooling my daughters, Rebecca and Katie. And I love to knit. Preferably simultaneously.
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I was reading your post, getting some pointers/ideas for mine when I came to the end. I am so sorry about your son. I never seem to have the right words, but that is certainly something I just could not comment on in some way. God Bless You and your family and thanks for sharing. It has been a true blessing getting to know you through your blog and twitter.