Honesty

I’ve been tagged by the lovely Sue and the lovely KayJay to share ten honest things about me. In no particular order, here they are:

1. I’m a walking identity crisis. I’m English but grew up in Germany from age five and am not sure where I belong more. On the upside, I’m extremely punctual.

2. There’s something weird in my personality: I’m terrified of flying, but all the jobs I’ve chosen have involved a lot of global travel. I’ve flown on all sorts of airlines, some more dodgy than others. My fear of flying developed before any of the four “overshoots” happened (landings cancelled at the last minute), but they certainly didn’t facilitate the recovery process.

3. Despite the chocolate and beer, I’m not a huge fan of Belgium. I was robbed once for each year I lived there (three). The first robbery was in Gent and I was held up at gunpoint in a corner shop when someone walked in to clean out the cash registers; I happened to be standing there paying. The second time was when I was mugged late at night in the parking garage at Brussels airport coming back from a business trip to Australia. The third time I was in my car in Brussels at a red light with the doors locked and someone put an axe through the passenger window and grabbed my handbag from the seat. I took the hint and moved to the US soon after.

4. I constantly feel guilty about the fact that my career drive has slowed over the last few years. I used to be a real go-getter with a lot of responsibility at work, but my work ego has mellowed since then. I’m still very keen on my job and working hard, but not at the expense of my personal goals. One of my biggest stress factors in the IVF process is making all the doctor’s appointments work with the business trips.

5. I had a beautiful little brother called Patrick who died in an accident when he was five and I was sixteen. It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

6. J the Elder and I met on eHarmony. After staying in several bad relationships for far too long, I finally realised that I wasn’t very good at finding the right kind of person on my own. It took me about two weeks to fill in all the questionnaires, but within three weeks of joining we were matched up in August 06. We were engaged in Paris in May 07 and married in January 08. First marriage for both of us. I admit to still cringing over how we met, but it worked. Two friends joined after they saw what happened to us, one of them is getting married this July and the other is also very happy.

7. When I married J the Elder I went from having one sister-in-law to having eight. My DH has seven siblings, all of them fabulous. Once I’d perfected the names of his seven siblings and their spouses, I went on to memorise the names of his seventeen nieces and nephews and two great-nieces and nephews. Before meeting his parents for the first time, I’d nailed it. I think I liked him.

8. I’m neurotic and paranoid about losing my two cats and probably should seek therapy for it. I live in constant fear that they’ll get out of the house and be attacked by coyotes (very common where we live). When I moved in with J the Elder, I went on and on about the need to be really careful with the doors and windows. Within two weeks of moving in, however, it was his beloved dog that got out on my watch when an air conditioning service person left the garden gate open. I had to call him to come home from work and we found her about three hours later. I was sure that was the end of the relationship…..

9. I really miss the running lifestyle. Because of our fertility issues, I haven’t run more than a mile since July 07. I only started running in 05 but took to it like a fish to water. Between 05 and 07 I ran several 5Ks, 10Ks and half marathons, as well as the Marine Corps Marathon in DC. Ironically, I wasn’t able to run the Boston Marathon due to an injury I sustained qualifying for it in DC.

10. I’d be utterly heartbroken if I wasn’t able to make a Daddy of my DH. He’s unbelievable with children, they all just gravitate towards him. Watching the amazing bond that’s developed between him and his nearly 3-year-old nephew is wonderful and very touching.