5 Things Meme

I've been tagged by my cousin, Elana, to share "Five Things you might not know about me." This is a tough one since I tend to be fairly open in this blog but I will give it a shot.

1. In college I flirted with becoming far more religiously observant then I am now. I saw Judaism as an anchor in a storm and spent my first two years in college taking refuge in the Hillel House at George Washington University. During the end of my sophomore year I deepened a friendship that had existed on a very superficial level with the man who is now known as Papa Squid. When I transfered colleges a few months later, I did not find the same community at the Cornell Hillel house as I had at G.W. and my path towards a very observant life ended. My anchor then took the very real and very solid form of the Love of My Life, Papa Squid.

2. For years I thought that I did not have the right personality to become a teacher despite the fact that it was what I always wanted to be. This stemmed from a misinterpretation of a comment from someone I love and respect. Years later when I was looking at leaving graduate school and going into teaching I mentioned this to the person in question who replied that she meant the lower grades, not the upper ones that I wanted to teach. She thought I'd be great with older kids. I concurred and here I am.

3. I am inexplicably afraid of doctors. I even get nervous calling to make an appointment for an annual check-up for any one of us. My mother-in-law used to enable me in this fear by occasionally calling the pediatrician when one of the kids was sick. Just the fact that she was willing to do this gave me the courage to make the call and deal with it. This is not a disabling fear -- I did go for a well-Mama appointment just yesterday and the kids get taken at least once a year for check-ups as well as the, fortunately, rare sick-kid visits. I used to try to palm off all kid-related doctor appointments on Papa Squid but have almost stopped doing it. Basically I have acknowledged that I have a problem and am handling it in a mature manner.

4. I once swore that I would never get married and never have kids. You see how well I stuck to that one. Good thing I know a stupid decision when I see one.

5. I never intended on becoming an Assistant Principal. When Mike was pushed to start the A.P. program so that he could take over from his soon-to-retire boss, I joined him to get the credits (for salary purposes) and keep him company. Before Mike could step into his bosses job, his boss passed away. Since Mike was not yet certified, the job went to someone else. At the same time my friend and mentor started asking me when I would have my certification because she would not retire until I was ready to step into her job. And there you go.

I tag Ann, Cookie, Dave, Susan and Debbie!