the interview game

This is a fun little interview game. My friend Jo from Chez la laquet sent me five questions to answer here on my blog. So here are her questions and my answers. After you learn all this amazing stuff about me, you can see how to play!

1. What song(s), taste(s) and smell(s) transport you instantly back to your childhood? Why?

Answer: Okay, songs. The soundtrack to “Paint Your Wagon” and most anything by Anne Murry or the Carpenters because that’s what we listened to in the car. When I was little (before Carin was born) we lived in Wyoming and had long car rides everywhere. Then on family road trips as I got older. Vicky and I would sing “Don’t disturb the ladybug,” and “Gold Fever”. It wasn’t until high school or college I asked dad why one song from PYW ended with the word “deal”. That’s when dad realized I had never seen the show, only heard it! Tastes, peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chips in it and chocolate milk to drink. A favorite childhood meal that couldn’t be had at school. And cherry chips, like chocolate chips but with cherry. I used to sneak handfuls of them when I wasn’t supposed to. Smells, pasta cooking in water. Weird, I know, but my favorite childhood meal was mac & cheese so the smell is in my memory.

2. What are the best & worst things about living in Colorado Springs /Colorado?

Answer: The best has to be living next to such a beautiful mountain and having wonderful wild areas so close. A short drive and I’m in the mountains and far away from “the world”. We are also big enough to have decent shopping and we attract pretty good theater, but aren’t so big that there aren’t opportunities for us amateurs to get involved. The worst has to be that CS is growing and getting really big and it takes forever to get places, especially since we still have a small town mentality and haven’t developed a decent public transport system! That and we are always the target in movies to be blown up since we have NORAD here. I would like to say our lovely zoo is on that SAME mountain so if NORAD is targeted all the wonderful animals would be gone as well… and we have the largest reticulated giraffe herd in the USA!

3. My friend Ruth says “honestly” @ the end of sentences all the time (imagine Billy Connolly in a Glaswegian accent!) I don’t take the mick (tease her) – much! What word or phrase do you use “too much” in every day speech?

Answer: There are more than I like to admit! I’ve recently taken to saying “Good Lord” all the time and I’ve been known to overuse “whatever” and “fab-u-lous”. I also like to say “for the love of everything pure and holy” and “for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary.” If it’s not bad, I’ll just say, “for the love of Peter” or “for the love of Peter and Paul.” When I get to Mary, you know I’m frustrated.

4. What were you doing in Peru? What was the best thing about your visit? Why? *
* Ok, I realize this is technically 2 ½ questions … go on, let me get away with it, just this once!

Answer: I was on a tour with Compassion International, my employer, but as a paying sponsor. It was my second trip. I went the first time in 2002 as my five year anniversary with the organization. At that time, I sponsored one girl, Sandra, there and my dad sponsored one girl, Katherine. I met them both on the first trip. I had such an amazing time that my dad mentioned one day that he wouldn’t mind going if he could see Macchu Picchu. So, the next tour that rolled around we both went on. This time, I had two girls, Sandra (now 16) and Karen (age 4) and dad had Katherine (now 7) and a boy, Miguel (also 7). While there, dad picked another child, Keysi (age 6). So now, between the two of us, we have five sponsored children in Peru. We also got to see Macchu Picchu because we stayed after the tour and struck out on our own.

It’s hard to say what the best thing was. The first trip I had “moments” that really defined the trip for me. This time, it wasn’t as overwhelming because I had already experienced a lot (being in a new country, hearing the language, meeting a sponsored child). But a few highlights were meeting Karen and seeing Macchu Picchu. Karen was a little angel who reminds me of me, she could truly be my daughter. And when I found out her mom is my age, it hit me pretty hard that here was this woman my age, living half way around the world, married with two kids, thanking me for caring for her daughter. It was a lot to take in. Macchu Picchu is just amazing, hiding up in the Andes, tucked away from everything. It’s an amazing place, built by people who have long since vanished. I’m amazed at how the things we leave behind speak so much as to who we were. I should have been a historian.

And having my dear friend Soledad offer to translate my novel (which is dedicated to and inspired by Sandra) into Spanish was a wonderful bonus!

5. If you could teach everyone in the world one thing, what would it be?

Answer: Only one????? Tough question. I’m tempted to say, “how to use a turn signal” but that doesn’t apply to much of the world because not everyone drives vehicles, so scrap that idea. Then there’s the practicle stuff like good nutrition or how to clean water, but again, half the world already knows about that stuff. So one thing to teach EVERYONE in the world… it would be to teach everyone that we are all human, under our skin we are from the same stuff, and that if we want to not screw up our planet and our lives any more than already done, we have to start caring about each other. I would teach them how to see past skin color and to really love each other, to share their last bite of bread with whoever is hungry and how to stand up again evil.

Okay, so that’s more than one thing, but maybe I can sum it up in one word, compassion. I know, sounds like a cop out, but compassion means “to suffer with”, and if we all learned to suffer with one another, we would be more loving and stand up to evil and help each other. Yeah, that’s it, I’d teach compassion. I know I still have a lot to learn in this area, but hey, let’s all learn together!

Now the rules
Leave me a comment saying 'interview me please'.
I will respond by asking you five questions here on my blog (not the same questions you see here!) You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions
You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions