SOLC23- March 23, 2015- 10 Things About Me

March 23, 2015

10 Things About MeThis was going to be a slice where I wrote about my

This was going to be a slice where I wrote about my sister but that is complicated, so will have to wait for a day when I have more time! Today it is 10 things you should know about me (in no particular order).

1. I am a mom! I have two sons, ages 23 and 21 and they are amazing young men. It is still so weird to me that these grownups are the baby boys from what I swear was just a short time ago, but there you have it. It is hard to have them living so far away (one is working in Boston and the other is finishing up university in Washington, DC), but we stay in touch as best we can. Now I just mother my two silly cats.

2. I love reading! I read with any spare time I have and I love to share books with anyone who will show the slightest bit of interest. I am so thankful that I have discovered The Nerdy Book Club, so that I get more great ideas for books to read and also see that there are others just as book crazy as me! I prefer kidlit, but also do my share of other reading too. I feel one of my main jobs as a third grade teacher is to help students find books they love, so my classroom library is pretty extensive. If you have not read any children’s books recently just ask- I am bound to have a recommendation for you!

3. I feel like I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. I think the deal was sealed in second grade when stubborn witch that I am I developed a genuine fever every PE day. The school nurse had to call my mom to pick me up and my mom left work to get me. She was a nursery school teacher that year, so I got to go hang out with the kids there. I had my spy phase (Harriet the Spy) and my detective phase (Nancy Drew), but I spent my afternoons and evenings babysitting as soon as I could. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I headed off to college, but my dad insisted that I go in undeclared and even told everyone that I was likely to be a lawyer (because I like to argue). Well, needless to say, I graduated with a BA in Elementary Ed and have been a teacher ever since (except for 7 years off when my sons were young-see #1).

4. By Jewish law I am Jewish. My mom found out when I was 15 that she was Jewish (both of her parents were Jewish, but pretended to be Presbyterian because when my grandfather was just starting out as an architect it was harder to be a Jewish architect in New York). As it turned out my grandmother’s “best friend” was really her sister, but they did not admit this because my great aunt was Jewish. This all came out in the open twice- first my mother’s sister found out when she was getting married, but then she also kept it a secret until I was 15 and started asking questions about our genealogy. At this point my aunt told everyone and bit by bit much of the story came out. My grandparents had many stories, and I am sure not all were ever shared. Confusing, eh?!

5. I have moved a lot. When I was young I had lived in 3 apartments by the time I was 3 1/2. I have lived in 3 states in the US and attended 4 different elementary schools. I lived in the same house for junior high and high school (sort of- my parents got divorced, so I bounced back and forth between them). After university (which I did in two countries) I settled in to teach (one school, but three apartments in 5 years). Then I married my now ex and we moved from Maryland to Amsterdam to Hong Kong to Maryland to Warsaw to Maryland to Berlin to Mumbai. In India we split up and I moved back to Berlin and am now in Kuala Lumpur. I have loved everywhere I have lived.

6. In third grade I could beat everyone in the class in arm wrestling. I was quite proud of this!

7. Matt Damon and his brother Kip taught me how to watch baseball. I still remember watching the Red Sox on TV and them teaching me what it all meant. Their mom was a friend of my parents and lived next door (or upstairs?) from my dad’s wife (who was then his girlfriend).

8. When I was 13 I had half of my left lung removed. I had a cough that would not go away, so I had an x-ray to see if it was bronchitis or pneumonia. They saw a spot and could not figure out what it was- TB, cancer, something I swallowed… After lots of tests they decided they would have to operate and take out 2/15 of the lung. When they got in it was bigger than they thought and it was a congenital cyst that could have made my lung collapse at any point.

9. I love Twitter. I have found that it has opened the door to many opportunities for me and my classes and has provided me with lots of professional development.

10. I am pretty shy and do not take the initiative I should take to ask people to do things with me, so I miss out on some fun. I wait for others to invite me to do things and am not as brave as I would like to be so that I do more things on my own.

There you have it- not necessarily the most important things about me, but definitely some insights.