not your usual email survey

1. What is your favorite memory as a child? i have so many great memories from my childhood that it's impossible to pick just one. i guess i could narrow it down to Christmastime. Christmas Pageants & midnight candlelight services. parties & family gatherings. traditions & decorations. Advent services & carol sings. it wasn't about the gifts so much as that my dad & grandparents made the whole thing so magical.

2. What is your worst memory as a child? when my dad told me that my grandmother was in the hospital. i was only 9 at the time & i didn't find out until several years later that she had breast cancer & had actually been given only *months* to live. she defied all the odds & survived cancer-free for another 15 years. at the time though, i was just terrified that she would never come home.

3. What is the most joyful thing that has ever happened to you? so many things. i couldn't even start to list them all. i guess one of the best is when Heather & Jason asked me to be Catherine's god mother & then of course when she finally was born. =)

4. And the saddest or worst thing ? well it didn't really happen to ME but watching my grandfather suffer from Alzheimer's disease was awful. i felt so powerless, just watching him slip deeper & deeper inside himself to a place none of us could reach him. it still makes me very sad to think about it.

5. Are you a glass half empty or glass half full kind of person? other than an occasional lapse, definitely a glass half full kind of a girl. i try to keep a positive clear perspective & face each new day with a smile no matter what happened the day before.

6. Do you believe in God? And if not, do you believe in anything as a higher power? YES. i am not the type to just broadcast my religious convictions although i do not have a problem sharing them with anyone. i just try to live my life in a way that reflects my beliefs & values. some days i do well & other i fail miserably but i always try.

7. Do you like thunderstorms? sure do--as long as my electricity stays on ;-)

8. Do you like to go camping? BAHAHAHAHAHAHA. no. see the answer to #7. apply those same feelings to showers & running water & my bed. factor in the part where i HATE bugs. i don't think this is something that i would ever find enjoyable. i like my creature comforts way too much.

9. If someone offered you $100,000 would you pose naked in playboy/playgirl? not a chance. not that i am uncomfortable with the way i look. i just don't think people need to see me naked unless i specifically choose to show them ya know?

10. If you had $100,000 what are the first three things you would do with it? pay off all my debt. do something special for all the people i care about most. put the rest in the bank for "a rainy day".

11. Are you a black and white type of person, or dabble in the gray? i believe that there are 2 sides to every story, that there is often far more to the story that it first appears. i believe that sometimes flexibility is necessary in order for us to attain happiness. i think that we need to be able to change our opinions on the black or the white in some circumstances, that there can always be an exception to a rule. so i guess i dabble in the gray--sometimes. there are some issues in which i am decidedly black & white though, some compromises i am not willing to make--but i accept that not everyone will agree with the way i think & feel.

12. If you could be anything other than the profession you are in now, what would it be? now that i have the job i've got with the company i work for, i can't imagine anything i'd like to do more. when i am truly happy, i don't feel the need to look for greener grass.

13. Ever done drugs? never

14. Did you ever contemplate suicide? absolutely not. i think that life is a precious gift & that no matter how bad it might be right now, things can improve. sometimes it takes time, sometimes it takes work, sometimes it takes patience, sometimes it takes asking for help. but nothing is ever so bad that it's worth not living at all. that's a choice you can't reverse & all it does is hurt the people that love you.

15. Do you actually like filling these things out or do you just indulge your friends? i like filling them out for the most part. there are some email surveys that have circulated around for so long that it just gets tedious filling out the same 25 answers. but if someone sends one with at least a few new questions, i find it kinda fun to think about "who i am right now". this one in particular really made me think.