Answer Me This: May 4

Since this is such a new blog and I might actually gain some readers who don't know me already, I thought it would be fun to participate in Answer Me This from catholicallyear.com!

1. Are you becoming your mother?

Quite a bit, and that's not at all a bad thing! My mom was a SAHM herself until I, the youngest of three, started high school. And even then she got a part time job to pay my tuition after I asked to go to parochial instead of public school. It was a house rule that none of us drove in high school, so she drove me around to school, scouts, swim team, band and choir practices and performances, even my part-time job junior and senior year. I actually have not yet taken the required driver training to drive with hand controls (yes, I know it's been nine years, but they've been complicated!), so she still drives me and now my kids around, but I'd like to think that our homeschooling gives me the time to talk to and really know my kids that my mom and I had when it was just us running around in the car. I remember telling my mom we were trying to conceive our first child, and her concern that I'd never finish college. I felt bad, but on later reflection realized I would be following after my mom, and if I can be as much of a patient, loving parent as her then that's not a bad path to follow!

2. Coffee or tea?

Coffee if it's all dressed up with flavored syrups or creamers. Otherwise tea. I have no idea how many mugs of after work hot tea I fixed for my dad over the years, and oh what I wouldn't give to fix him one now! (He just lost a year-long battle with esophageal cancer in late February.) So hot with milk and sugar, or cold with sugar and sometimes lemon - this is after all the south! My favorite beverages, though, are half sweet tea half lemonade, and Dr Pepper.

3. What foreign country would you like to visit?

I'm the granddaughter of immigrants, so I would love to visit Slovakia one day!

4. Do you cry easily?

Umm, yes indeed, and I've got the happy pills to prove it! Losing your Dad to cancer at the same time your son is being evaluated for autism is tough! Seriously, though, yes I do tend to be rather emotional. I don't think I've ever watched the beginning of Up or the end of Toy Story 3 without tearing up.

5. How often do you wear heels?

Almost never, and the ones I do are small heels. Wearing heels in a wheelchair is an acquired skill, and I've generally been more concerned with figuring out how to carry a baby at various ages, pick my babies up off the floor without falling out of the chair, etc.

6. Do you play an instrument?

Yes, flute and piccolo. Played all through middle and high school, and was in my university marching band both years I went there. I really should pull it back out from time to time; I'd be woefully out of practice!