Character Confession: Oh My!

Each Saturday I try to blog my “Character Confession” courtesy of Noelle Mena at Pliable in His Hands. Since I’m starting over with the site and blog I figured I’d share a little about me. If you’re a new reader you can figure out whether you want to strike a cyber friendship or go running the opposite direction. If you’ve been with me awhile this may be a chance for you to learn something new about me or hopefully be affirmed that reading my things was a great choice on your part.

So here it goes. The unofficial about me post.

1. My real name is Juliann and I dislike it. First, it’s hard to fall in love with a name your mom confesses she found in an insurance file. Second, few get it right and insist my name is Julian. It’s not. Let’s just go with Julie.

2. My maiden name was Tong. When I transferred to SUNY Geneseo my floormates learned my name before I arrived and was certain I was going to be a hard studying straight A student, thinking perhaps I had an Asian background. The truth is my grandfather had a fight with his brother so bad my grandfather changed his name. My real maiden name should have been Tongue.  I was a target for teasing either way. The funniest part is that in our small town in Upstate NY there was a family with the same last name we were not related to and they were Asian. Their daughter Pam married my cousin Sam. So when she got married she never had to change her last name.  I’m not kidding.

3. I was born on Good Friday with tornado warnings. That sums everything up, truly it does.

4. I’ve been married 14 years to a man 10 years older. There are days the age difference means nothing because I’m an old soul. Then there are days I can totally tell he is a Boomer and I’m a Gen X’er. And it’s good.

5. I’ve dealt with PCOS or polycystic ovaries since I was 13, but I was diagnosed at 25. I write about it a lot because I do not have a normal case in some ways and where my stats might look hopeless, I’m a mother of two. I serve a God of the impossible.

6. I’m a stepmom. Few know this in Ohio and think my kids are lying when they talk about having a brother and a sister. It’s true and I write about them to encourage anyone who dreamed of marrying a man with a house and the white picket fence, that is boring.  I never grew up thinking gee, I’d love to marry a divorced man with kids but I wouldn’t have it any other way. There is a 13 year difference between this mean ole step mom and his daughter. We think that is funny. They are adults living on their own in Wisconsin and Illinois.

7. I hate eggs. Unless they are chocolate peanut butter.

8.  I yawn with vengeance. I sound like a Hoover sucking up dirt on a floor.

9.  You can have Hawaii, I’ll take the Adirondack Mountains.

10. I love taking nature pictures and feature them here on Sundays.

11.  When we lived in Upstate NY we lived seven miles from the Watkins Glen NASCAR racetrack. I used to make fun of NASCAR but living there turned me into a fan. I don’t watch as much now that we live if football is law Ohio, but I’ll never forget haulers throwing merchandise at our son’s feet while they drove 55 mph and threw through the passenger window. I always thought maybe those hauler drivers should be in the race.

12. I have horrible knees. As a baby/toddler the doctor put braces on my feet and kept them on too long so my feet turned in. My knee dislocated easily. I’ve damaged them so many times I can predict winter weather before Al Roker.

13. I’m not a Trekkie but I am 100% devoted to the Superman franchise. I love the movies (well Superman Returns disappointed me) and the shows.  I think I can relate to Lois the sassy journalist yet die hard romantic. I love a great geek love story. I love superhero stories. Growing up and even as an adult I would think about a League of Justice movie and what actors would portray who but then I’d always laugh and say I didn’t have the budget to continue.

14. I have 2 Lhasa Apsos. I grew up with a Peekapoo that I received at age 5 from Santa and she passed away when I graduated from college at 22. I’m really not a cat fan even though we have one.

15. I graduated from the Christian Writers Guild and my mentors were Stephen and Janet Bly. It was a great experience.

16. My most embarrassing moment was walking in on a local TV anchor who was changing his pants during an event I was co coordinating. He took the headliner’s dressing room and wasn’t the headliner, so in my mind, totally his fault.

17. I can be snarky but I try to speak the truth in love. I will not hold your hand and enable you to continue to make bad choices. You can do that without me. But if you want to surrender, even in the smallest of baby steps, you won’t have a bigger cheerleader than me. If you’ve seen that commercial with the counselor who says mamby pamby land, that would be my style.

18. I love working with kids. When I was a kid no one told me that Jesus was real and that He could be a friend, and wanted to be such. I love telling kids about Jesus and His love for them. I love telling them they matter, no matter what. And truth be told, I relate to them better than I do most adults.

19.  Every Christmas season I’m going to cry every time the Maxwell House commercial plays with the older brother who returns home and the sister puts the bow on him and announces he is the gift. Oh My, I’m tearing up now thinking about it. We have a five year gap between our kids and I can picture them.

20. Our son is almost a teenager and has his dad’s musical and computer genius. He has my justice and literal personality. He has my faith personality, so to speak. He can discern people and situations and take those things to mountain moving prayer.

21. Our daughter is seven and our worshipper. My favorite hymn, if you will, she created was singing how Jesus will help you any time you are in trouble and if you are hungry you can go to Burger King for waffle sticks. Tis true. She’s also where many writing credits came from. She was chronically ill as a baby and toddler and at one point we nearly lost her.

22. When I was little I wanted to be a librarian and a spy.

23.  When I was little I also dreamed about being a contemporary Laura Ingalls Wilder.

24.  My first celebrity crush was John Boy Walton. I know.

25.  The few times I won’t choose chocolate is for red velvet cake. My mom’s.

There, a glimpse into my open book life.

Did you learn anything?

Did I scare or inspire you?

Comments always welcome.