Questionaire

I have a questionnaire to fill out on my desk. It is for the class reunion I will attend this summer. Barbara Walters would have tossed these questions aside as just toooo boring and incomplete.

I am a word person, I think. I get hung up on words. Wording in surveys has driven me crazy! One misplaced word in a Sunday sermon will cause me to stew for weeks. And when my poor boss talks to me... and she is really a nice person... I just cringe, because the words she uses set off a wild fire of internal chaos within me.

Name, address, e-mail are standard and I completely get those... but married? Are you currently married? Does it matter? Would I like to be? Would I avoid it at all costs? I answered, no. But that seems such an incomplete answer for such a big question.

Number of children... they want a number, right? Two, 2. But honestly, a number does not describe these two incredible very different women. 2 daughters, I write, wanting to say more... wanting to say that one knows exactly what will drive you crazy and enjoys getting you there and the other is so soft and private you want wrap her in tissue and tip-toe around her, that one is terrified of all things crawlie and the other is bent on over-coming any fear, that one calls me if she gets a hang nail and the other lives somewhere on another planet, in another world, and tries so hard to only tell me what she thinks I want to hear... Number? 2.

Number of grandchildren? Two again. Grandsons, I say. Four and two. I don't tell them that they attract dirt like strong magnets, that if I don't kiss them goodbye, when I leave they go into melt-down, that they are smart and skinny, and that the oldest one, when he is throwing a major temper tantrum moves his body with such grace that if it weren't so damned annoying, it would be beautiful.

Most interesting place you have lived? Oh, give me a break! Where have I lived for crying out loud? Clinton, Illinois; Metropolis, Illinois; Joppa, Illinois (hmmm, that might be the candidate... Joppa was so strange... but strange is not the same as interesting.); Haines City, Florida (that was pretty strange, too.); KC, Missouri; and Glendale, Arizona. I said Arizona, but I am uncertain about the interesting part.

Most interesting place you've visited. (Maybe it is the word "interesting" that is getting me hung up.) I said rafting the Alsek river from the Yukon to Dry Bay, Alaska... it was certainly the most spectacular. Gosh, Alaska is just so big! And there is nothing like being stripped down naked, except for your big knee-high rubber boots, trying to take a quick but thorough bath in a 45 degree snow-melt stream while praying a curious grizzly doesn't pay you a call. Oh, it was interesting all right.

Favorite thing to do (hobby) I listed outdoor things and indoor things... but it seemed so incomplete! And I did not mention blogging or writing, or poetry, or meditating. Ask me what I enjoy, what makes my heart sing. It is words. I found an Annie Dillard quote today about arithmetic, or science... or how crystals form... and it blew my socks off. I read gkgirl's blog and her poetry and I am silenced. All the other stuff is to get me ready to hear the words!

Who was your favorite teacher? Does this mean I liked them or that they influenced me? These things are not always the same. Sometimes the biggest pain of a teacher will move you farther than the nicest, most pleasant one... I listed two names. One a teacher who told me what I could not do (write) and the other, a teacher who told me what I could (art).

Best memory from high school... oh please!

And, my favorite, Personal information you wish to share... I wrote a one paragraph bio. Said in a sentence what I had been doing the last forty-one years. Said I was pretty happy. Said I was looking forward to retirement... all the safe regular stuff.

What do you say to people you haven't seen in 41 years? I am the same. I am completely different. The person you knew is both here and not here. I grew up and thank heaven, you did too.