Ten More Things You (Maybe) Didn't Know

If you read the first installment of this you may know a little more about me, but here are ten more things you (maybe) didn't know about me.

Ten: I played volleyball in high school.

I wasn't a very sporty person, but my friend joined volleyball and I liked the game well enough so I joined as well. I was part of the team for... maybe a month, not even a full season. I didn't like the game when it was higher stakes.

Nine: I was in a play in high school.

I loved theater and my friend did a lot with the theater at my high school. So one year she asked if I wanted to be part of the play. I ended up with a small role, a waitress, in the play Leader of the Pack. I had a handful of lines and sang some of the songs. It was nerve recking but now being in front of a crowd doesn't bother me all that much. It was in drama class though that I heard about the World Trade Centers.

We were scheduled to do monologues that day and I walked into class ready to do mine. One the TV was what I thought a movie but turned out to be the news about the planes hitting the towers. On the little stage was one of my classmates, she was pacing and crying saying the world was ending and what was going on. I thought she was practicing her monologue... until the teacher explained what was going on. The monologues were cancelled and we sat watching the news... we saw the towers collapse... we didn't transition to our next class until almost an hour later as the principal was speaking with other schools about what we were supposed to do. I went to the remaining of my classes watching the news. Even during lunch they rolled out carts with TVs on them that had the news playing. After school I walked home watching the sky for planes.

Eight: I volunteer with a community theater group.

My oldest, Elaine, loves theater. When we moved to our current house we found a community theater group, TACT, and she tried out for a play. Elaine was in two plays before she told me they were looking for people to help backstage. I went and helped out for a show and have been working with them since. Two shows a year, one Fall/Winter one and one Spring/Summer one. I help with set building and moving props, and handling the curtains during the shows.

Seven: I love musicals.

My first musical, outside of Disney, was Sound of Music, which I watched with my grandma. The music made me want to sign along. Then I fell in love with The Prince of Egypt. That became my go to movie when I wasn't feeling good. After that I watched Rent in High School. From there I have watched multiple other musicals. I enjoy the story telling from song and the songs themselves are typically very catchy.

Six: I took three years of Spanish in High School.

During my high school career, I took Spanish for three years. I was good at it and loved the language. Now though... I remember only tiny pieces of it. I can understand people speaking simple phrases if they are slow enough, but I am not as fluent as I used to be.

Five: I scrapbook... in my free time.

In my free time, which I have so little of... I like to scrapbook. I have several started, A few for my kids, my wedding album, and even did one for a friend of mine. I hope to built it into my life more and do more scrapbooking... but time is always something I need more of.

Four: I have two older brothers and two younger sisters.

So I grew up with two older brothers who did a lot of sports and would let me join from time to time... and two younger sisters, who I helped raise (mostly the youngest of the two). There is twelve years between my oldest brother and my baby sister.

Three: I teach several classes.

I love to learn, and when I find something that I like and think others would be able to use it to better their lives, I want to share it with them. This has lead to me learning how to teach multiple different things.

The first class I was able to teach was a trauma class - This is designed to help parents, caregivers, and foster parents learn how to handle children with trauma.

With the birth of my oldest I picked up sign language and loved it so much I got certified to teach a Baby Sign Language Class.

After that I learned Conscious Discipline - a parenting class that teaches the parents first how to manage their emotions so that they can then teach the children.

I then learned during COVID a program called Lively Letters - This is a program used to teach letter names and letter sounds to children.

After that I learned about Aces and took a class to teach an Aces training to educators, parents, caregivers, etc.

Two: I didn't get my license until I was eighteen and my first trip driving without a licensed driver in the car with me was from Michigan to West Virginia.

I took driver's training when I turned sixteen and did all of the driving lessons, etc. My driving teacher was pretty insane though... and had me driving on freeways in the Metro Detroit Area. (anyone familiar with that area will understand the stress driving as a experienced driver let alone a teen driver). So my first time going onto the freeway during class I panicked and drove slow. My instructor told me to speed up or I was going to get rear ended (a valid fear though I didn't know it at the time). So I sped up to 70. He then told me to speed up more (over the speed limit) to which I did... going then 75. He let me ride this speed for awhile before telling me I was speeding and to drop back to 70. I slowed down to 70 and maintained my speed. He then informed me that if I dropped below 70 or went above 70 that he'd hit the brakes on his side of the car and we'd get rear ended.

Needless to say... I was terrified. Because of this, when I finished with class I refused to go take my driver's test. I sure as hell didn't want to drive ever again. Fast forward a few years and I am moving out of the house and into a new state with my boyfriend. I was told I would want my licenses just in case and so I took the test. Passed and got my licensed. I then moved down to West Virginia without a car and no desire to use said licenses.

A bit after moving down though, I started college. I needed a way to and from school and so I got a car from my grandma she no longer used. I got a ride to Michigan and got the car... and then was told to drive it home (to West Virginia). It was the first time driving without a licensed driver with me. My boyfriend was with me, but he didn't have his license. So we drove together from Michigan to West Virginia. A 5 hour drive... mostly freeways... Needless to say the drive was a lot closer to 9 hours long and was so stressful.

Now, I drive like it's nothing.

One: I had a broken arm long enough for it to begin knitting itself back together and no one knew about it.

When I was younger, I'm not sure the age but I believe around preschool age, before the age of six because we were still in Indiana, I broke my arm. Now this is a fairly common thing for children except... no one knew about it. Not even me. I went on with life, writing, using it, moving it... everything for a week or two possibly without anyone knowing it had happened.

It wasn't until my aunt was babysitting me that it was noticed. From the story I'm told, as I remember only pieces of this, my aunt was giving me my nightly bath when she took my arm to wash it. I told her there were bees in my arm.

My aunt asked questions but of course my only response was... there were bees in my arm. My parents took me to the doctor's, they did an X-Ray and found not only was my arm broken, it had already started to knit back together broken... they asked my parents if I had fallen or what and they couldn't think of anything. To this day we have no idea how I broke my arm, though my mom suspects I was trying to ride one of my brother's bikes and fell off it since I had an interest in them at that age.

They had to re-break it and I got a cast, which I do remember and it sucked... but we still don't know how it happened or why I acted fine for a week or more after.

How many of these did you know? Which fact was the most interesting? Let me know in the comments below, and if you haven't read the first ten facts, you can find them here.