Versatile Blogger Award

I'm FINALLY getting around to responding to Colleen...who was sweet enough to give me this award...way back in August. Yes...I know...it is now OCTOBER. First of all...how did that happen? Second of all...sorry it took me over a month to write & publish this post. It isn't like I haven't blogged since August. I have. But...somehow I always find blogging/writing about ME much, much, MUCH harder than blogging about my son. I mean...heck...just slap up a few cute Little D photos combined with some attempt at funny (?) commentary...and those kinds of posts practically write themselves. Writing about me? Not as easy...but...here goes...

The Versatile Blogger award works like this:
1) thank and talk about who gave you the award
2) share 7 facts about yourself
3) give the award to 7 other bloggers who rock!

1.) Oh good...I don't have to write about myself yet...I can do this.
COLLEEN is a fellow adoptive mom...with an uber-cute son named Noah. I remember finding her blog (her first blog, actually...Paper Lanterns) long before Little D came home from Korea. I immediately loved her blog, her style of writing, her hipness (is that a word?), and her photos. She and her husband were a couple of months ahead of us in the adoption process (in terms of when we received our referrals & when our children were ready to come home). I felt we were sort of living a parallel life (at least the adoption part). I felt a connection to Colleen, like I feel with so many other blog friends too...even though we'd never met in person (and still have not). Another connection? I believe (based on her comment on my blog last year) that we share the same birthday: New Year's Eve. Also...and I hope she won't "un-friend" me for this...she and I are probably all/most of your "elders." By that I mean...with complete respect, of course...she and I are what the professionals like to call, "advanced maternal age." (Yes, that was written in my medical chart folks...no joke.) We have reached (or passed) the 4-0 mark...and I think we totally rock it. When I learned this little detail I immediately liked Colleen even more...especially because she really gets all my goofy EIGHTIES references. So...folks...in Asian (and many other) cultures...this fact alone means we should automatically get everyone's utmost respect, right? 'Nuff said.

2.) OK...now onto me...7 facts...
* I'm an oldest child. I know...I'm sure that shocks you. I guess I'm a natural-born leader, organizer, list-maker, detail observer/maker, and perhaps a bit too anal for my own good. (There...I said it!) Most of these traits serve me well...except for when it comes to being patient, giving up control to others, and not sweating the small stuff. I have to constantly work at these things.

* I'm a cancer survivor. 10 years. Osteosarcoma. I know many of you probably already know that...but it is something I'm proud of...and I like to remind myself...because it helps me slow down & enjoy life to its fullest, not take things for granted, and realize that I'm not always in control of everything about my life. My cancer journey was a good real-life lesson in having patience & putting my trust/faith in someone other than myself...good practice for our adoption journey. With a 60-some percent long-term survival rate...and having lost some close friends to this cancer...I feel blessed to be alive...and to still have BOTH my legs (amputation of my left leg, the site of the tumor in the bone, was a very real possibility). Life is good.

* I'm a first-generation American (first generation to be born in America) on my father's side of the family. He was born in Norway, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I have traveled there three times...and wish I could go back again.

* I was Captain of our high school dance line (drill team). Yes...me...high kicks, pom pons, jazz hands...the whole kit & caboodle. I also performed on all-state/national squads at a Chicago Bears football game, the re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty in NY, and at Epcot Center & Sea World in Florida. Sometimes I think back and laugh...it was a very fun experience. But...*oooooh!*...get that many girls together (our squad had 24-26 on it) and there is bound to be some serious drama! I was also a music "geek" -- in band (flute), in choir, etc...

* I love ice cream. No...seriously...LOVE! I eat some nearly every day...and some days I wish I could enjoy ice cream more than once each day. But...if I want my pants to fit...I'd better not, right?! My favorite flavor? Impossible to narrow it down to just one. As a child I was totally in love with mint chocolate chip (and still love it)...but now...I love pretty much anything well-constructed (i.e. good quality) with chocolate in it. Chocolate and peanut butter together is a combo made in heaven. I also sometimes get a hankering for a homemade strawberry...with big chunks of berries in there. YUM.

* I cannot wink my right eye. Not at all. My left eye? Sort of, but not great. The right eye? Physically impossible. Whenever I try my whole face scrunches up...and trust me...it isn't pretty. I swear I must be missing a critical muscle needed to accomplish this task. Whenever my DH needs a good laugh, he asks me to wink my right eye. I know...we *sure* know how to live it up around here. Woo-hoo! This is yet another reason I loved when cameras started having the viewing screen on back...because I no longer had to try to wink my eye to take a photo. Phew!

* Back when I was in Junior High it was trendy for people to create a nickname or somehow shorten their own names to make it "cuter" (i.e. ending in "i" so you could dot the "i" with a heart). I attempted to adopt the nickname "CRICKET" because I had a completely irrational fear of them. Once I was putting on a pair of shoes and a cricket jumped out right in my face. From the decibel level of my scream, you would have thought it was a scorpion or something. Unfortunately (or so I thought at the time...now I'd say FORTUNATELY), it never caught on. Dodged that bullet, I'd say.

3.) Share the award with others.
I'd LOVE to do this...but since I'm over a month behind the times, I suspect everyone has already done this for me. Therefore...I'll just say...I love all the blogs I follow. You ladies rock! I hope to meet many, many, MANY more of you some day soon.