Welcome to the beginning of the end of summer. Hard to believe, isn’t it, that this is the official last weekend of the season? Seems no one passed the word to Mother Nature, though, as we’re scheduled to be back in triple digits for the next few days. But that’s okay; we’ll go out on a high, and it’ll be nice.
I’ve spent this whole first day of the last weekend with my nose buried in books, though, and I’ve still got some more reading to do, so I’m figuring the holiday weekend will begin officially for me tomorrow. That’s okay, too. But since we just finished up dinner, I figured I’d extend my study break just a little bit longer and venture in to this week’s Five Question Friday. So let’s see what’s in store today . . .
1. What do you enjoy doing the most with your spouse?
We don’t really have a special tradition or something that’s just us, mostly it’s just hanging out, watching TV, running errands, whatever. And I always like that, just being together for normal stuff. There were many years of our marriage where we worked totally opposite shifts, and only saw each other on the weekends. And there were even more years that even our weekends weren’t in synch and we’d just have random days to be together. If there’s been an up side to being out of work, it’s that we’ve been able to be home together every night, and had every weekend free to do whatever we wanted.
2. How do you eat your taco? From the top or from the side?
Let me first say that I love tacos. Been eating them all my life, and they may well be my favorite food, if I ever had to really pick. Fortunately, I don’t have to really pick my very favorite, but tacos are for sure in the top five. But, all that being said, I’ve never considered the directions of a taco. I’ll assume that the top is the open side, right? In that case, I eat from the side first. But usually that bite won’t encompass the full depth of the taco, so then the top and bottom are uneven, at which point I have to eat the top bite off so that I can go back to the side. So, really, it’s probably an alternating thing—side, top, side top. Incidentally, when I make tacos, I layer my cheese for this particular reason, so that I will have cheese in every bite I take. And, guess what? We’re having some tacos tomorrow, which is good, because now I want some of that crunchy goodness, even though I just had nachos for dinner.
3. Have you ever shut off the basement light and ran like a fool because you knew someone was down there and would get you?
Well, we don’t have basements around here, but I get the idea. I’ve long been a believer of the boogey man/axe murderer, so I’m pretty sure if we did have basements, I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time down there. Dark and isolated is a bad combination. When I used to work nights and get home so late, I would pull into the garage and sit in my car, doors locked, eyes glued to the review mirror, until the garage door finally got closed behind me and it was safe to leave my cocoon and go into the house. Now that I think about it, I think I’m really glad we don’t have basements.
4. If you could change one thing about you what would it be and why?
Wow, there’s a lot to choose from! But mostly, I’ve always wished I was more gregarious, not so shy. When I was young, I’d say I was what folks would call “painfully shy”. My many, many years of customer service work, along with, you know, just living, have improved that situation greatly. But being around strangers (or even large groups of friends for very long), speaking in public, working closely with people I don’t know well—none of those things really come easily for me, even now. I think I’d choose that as my one change.
5. What age do you think is appropriate to have the "bird and the bees" talk with your children?
I don’t think there’s a magic age; it’s very circumstantial based on the individual and what’s going on with them. My mom was a nurse, so discussing any physical manifestation of anything was always easy for her. Her philosophy—and the one I pretty much adopted—was, if the kid is old enough to ask, they’re old enough to be told. Now, they might ask really deep questions at an age where they couldn’t possibly understand the full, unadulterated truth, but I think their questions should always be answered as truthfully as possible, at whatever level of detail would be appropriate at the time. I don’t think they should ever hear “I’ll tell you when you’re older”, especially these days, when a curious child is just going to wait until the parent isn’t around and then Google whatever they’re wondering about. For myself, I’d rather be the one to provide the information than leave it up to the great, world wide web.
So that’s it for this week; thanks for coming along for the ride again. I’ll get back to hitting the books now, but don’t mind me; you can still tell me all about your own answers, or link up below, but you know the drill: leave me a note to say you’re playing along. You know I like to know what others think. Oh, and do have a happy last weekend of summer.
