I've had my head in the sand and have been away awhile and didn't know anything about the Meme until my buddy, Jeanean Gendron, tagged me. What in the world do you pick out from a life as long as mine? :-)
1. When I was not quite 16, one of my best friends and I took driver's ed. from a VERY COOL instructor. He happened to be the boys' basketball coach at Willmar Sr. High School (MN) - we were out cruising on the road to Prinsburg. Tractors are typically the only vehicles on that road. (I was behind the wheel. He said "Pass". I pulled out in the passing lane and a car was coming at us so I stepped on it! He said, "PULL BACK IN". I thought, "Make up your mind!" I pulled back in and no one got hurt. Yikes!
2. I recently drove our Mini Cooper at ThunderHill Raceway (http://www.thunderhillraceway.com/) in Willows, CA. It was a day for folks to bring their street cars to learn to drive fast around curves/bends. My husband has a vintage Formula Atlantic race car he drives on several west coast tracks and he has subtly suggested I should do a "street" day at the track. (Refer back to #1 and it probably indicates I haven't learned much since then?) It was pretty entertaining to negotiate those curves/turns going fast. Kinda of addictive actually. My husband is one of the volunteer coaches at the track and each driver got to ride as a passenger with a coach at one point during the day. I went with Mark in the Mini and WHOA...the brakes were smoking! I didn't know the car could turn at 110 mph without flipping! Then I had another turn at the wheel that day...let's just say the brakes cooled down but my new goal is to get them smokin' when I return to do another "street" day in February.
3. The Milford Track (http://www.milfordtrack.net/) in Southern New Zealand is one of the best things I've ever done. You spend a few days and nights walking with a group of people from all over the world...not necessarily walking at the same speed but ending up at the same hut each night and sharing the discoveries of the day and also swapping stories about ourselves and the places from which we came. Absolutely stunning scenery, a mixture of sunshine and torrential rain, an eclectic mix of people...right up my alley. The hike was incredible as was taking those NEW hiking boots off at the end and nursing my huge blisters! They were my war wounds reminding me of what I thought would be a hike of a lifetime. To this day...it was the hike of a lifetime.
4. I met my husband at a Bloody Mary party in Dinkytown not far from Al's Diner (Anyone know where that is?) He wore a costume (why? I wondered) and he had an accent. He also was very good looking. He got my attention alright! The rest is history...but it took awhile. We knew each other for a month and then parted ways for 4.5 years. We had things to do! I eventually traveled to New Zealand with a girlfriend and "closed the deal". We got married and returned to the States and settled in Redding. Life is "stranger than". I happen to love that!
5. All three kids in my family, including myself, married folks from other countries! My parents always lived in Minnesota but the three of us eventually moved elsewhere. Two of us (obviously not me) live on opposite sides of Lake Superior. I'm the youngest of the 3 and the first to have kids. AND I'm still very close to a life long friend who lives now in South Dakota. We talk a couple times a week.
That's it for now...
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