38 Things

by Trish on March 29, 2008 · View Comments

in Fun Stuff,Reflections

Here’s a list of 38 things about me, since that is how old I am and, well, 100 is just too many for me to come up with:

I am originally a Midwestern girl, transplanted to Pennsylvania in 1995 with my husband.

I was born and raised in the Quad Cities and lived in the same house in Rock Island, Illinois, from the age of 3 until leaving for college.

I became a Christian in 1978 at the Assembly of God children’s summer camp in Carlinville, Illinois, at the age of eight.

My birthday is on Christmas Day, and yes, to whatever your next question is.

My father was a time clerk for the US Postal Service, and my mother was a procurement officer for the US Army (at the Rock Island Arsenal).

Both are now retired, and they have been divorced for 20 years.

I have two younger brothers, both of whom joined the Marines after finishing their GED’s. The youngest is still in the service.

My wedding took place on August 16 (1992), which is the Elvis death date, as well as the birthday of both our minister and my brother-in-law.

I skipped first grade.

I almost skipped sixth grade but was caught copying the answers for an assignment from a classmate (my one and only time cheating in school).

I am a lefty, although I do many things, including using scissors and bowling, with my right hand.

I have had two broken bones in my life, both in the same year and both occuring while playing outside with the neighborhood kids. The first was my left pinky, and the second, following almost immediately thereafter, was my left arm.

Once again, I am left-handed.

I have owned 4 cars. My first two cars were stick shift, and my last three have been Fords. The car I have now is the first one with air conditioning.

I have worked for the same company since moving to Harrisburg in 1995, although I have performed several different jobs as the company has grown from 7 employees when I was hired to over 40 now.

I have never been a bridesmaid.

My favorite foods are pizza and chocolate, not in any particular order.

My drink of choice is Mountain Dew.

I now automatically refer to Coke, Pepsi, etc, as soda and am surprised whenever I visit the Midwest and have to ask for pop.

I am extremely nearsighted and have worn glasses since I was five years old. My first pair were red “Flinstone” glasses.

Both of my grandfathers were born on September 12, 1912. My mom’s dad died when I was five, and my dad’s dad when I was 27.

My grandmothers are both still living and in their 90’s.

My first airplane trip was in 1991 at the age of 21.

In high school, I loved algebra and hated geometry.

I went to college at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri and graduated with a degree in English Education.

I have never taught professionally.

For those of you familiar with Christian recording artist Sara Groves, her father, Dwight Colbaugh, was the campus pastor during my time at Evangel and was also my professor for an Old Testament book study of I & II Kings.

My favorite class in college was Structures of American English.

My least favorite class in college was Essential Christianity, where we were made to read a book entitled, I kid you not, How to Read a Book.

I would forgo a bonus at work if it meant I could dress down every day.

I can’t remember my mom ever giving me a hug.

My first boyfriend was 5’10” and of German ancestry; my husband is 5’10” and of German ancestry. (Not the same person!)

When I was pregnant, the ultrasound technician told us we were having a girl. We didn’t.

I’m glad we had a boy because I hate pink.

I thought the most difficult day of my life was when my son had surgery at six months old.

He recovered from the surgery.

Then he was diagnosed with autism at 33 months of age.

My dreams have changed.

Pass It On:

Tagged as: about me, Introductions

{ 6 comments }

Casdok March 30, 2008 at 7:15 am: Pizza and chocolate!! Snap!
TCC March 30, 2008 at 5:30 pm: I love reading stuff like this. I totally agree with #34 (just not a fan…no real reason other than that) and #31 almost made me cry.
Classic MaMa March 31, 2008 at 1:56 pm: I really enjoyed reading this list. Thank you for bein gso open and honest.
Promises Fulfilled March 31, 2008 at 6:15 pm: I really enjoyed reading this – I should be cleaning, but this was more interesting!

I have to agree with TCC – #31 did bring tears to my eyes.

I thought that it was so interesting about the similar dates in your family – your wedding date and also that your grandfather’s were born on the same day! How cool!

Maybe I will do something like this for my birhtday…which is Wed! So many birthdays right now!
Holding It Together April 1, 2008 at 8:01 pm: Thanks, guys! I was sort of afraid no one would read the list – I mean, do you really want to know this much about one person?? But it was really fun to think back and put it together.
2Shaye August 18, 2009 at 11:55 am: Man, Trish! These are absolutely creative and delightful! It’s so fun to read them and learn more details about your life. And I discovered that we’re pretty close in age, too! I wish I could go through every one of these, but then I’d by typing a dissertation here. My 100wpm fingers often have me leaving a book already, so I’ll type about my favorites. #8–yay for August anniversaries! #10–ugh, wouldn’t you know the one time it happened #11 My brother is that way, too. He’ll bat left, but catch as a righty. Write left, but cut righty. My oldest son is left-handed, too. So we’ll be watching for what he uses for which tasks. #17 — yay, my kind of girl! #24 Me, too! I did so well at Algebra that they stuck me in honors geometry and I hated it. #29 I’ll respond later. #31 #32 LOL #34 Oh, was I supposed to dress my little girl in pink?

On Adler’s How to Read a Book, I don’t know that it’s something that I’d ever require for undergrads to read because I don’t think I would have found any use for it back then. My nightly reading didn’t usually take over an hour or two during those years. But it’s probably one of the most recommended books in graduate schools across the board because of the massive amounts of textbooks and additional reading materials we have to read each week. As an academic librarian and adjunct college instructor, I’ve learned that the vast majority of undergrads and grads don’t know how to really read a book other than to start with the first page of chapter one. Therefore, comprehension and investment is so often lacking. Once they take a few minutes to first look over the table of contents, the chapter subtitles in each chapter, the dedication page, prologue, index, etc. before diving in it would take them half the time to read simply because then they understand the framework and just fly through the rest (it’s a great precursor to speed reading). But in all honesty, when I first saw the book on my first syllabus of my library science master’s I was probably rolling my eyes. I believe it was also listed as recommended reading for a few other classes, as well. But then again, we’re talking about massive amounts of reading in very short amounts of time. Digesting that much material and having something to show for it was difficult, at best. And I imagine the major concepts of Adler’s book could be covered in a two-paged explanation (which is what my hubby typed up for his students after his MDiv and PhD), but there are probably some helpful details hidden within the full text that many educators and professional researchers find helpful.
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