1. I was tagged by my first friend, Rebecca. We’ve been friends since we were four. We used to go on expeditions from her house to her grandparents’. It was about a quarter of a mile and involved crossing a meadow, so we had to be sure to bring snacks. She also owned the entire set of hardback Nancy Drew books – the ones with the yellow spine, and I think we might’ve read them all.
2. I think it’s a good thing to be constantly changing, so I don’t expect that all of the things I write here will necessarily be true of me even by this time next year. But I’ll start out with the more important stuff.
3. God kindly grew me up in a Christian family, where I learned my faith every day. I didn’t experience any of the stereotypical negative effects of being a “Pastor’s Kid,” and I think that’s because my parents just put a lot of prayer and faith and honest goodwill into raising my brother and me.
4. I met my husband Chad at a Bible Study at our friend Leyla’s place. We’ve been married for 8 ½ years.
5. I love the things we do to keep our lifestyle simple, like:
6. Living in a small space. Every time we’ve moved since we’ve been married, we’ve moved into a smaller space, and I’ve always liked it better. Quicker to clean, better organized, simpler.
7. Living near all the places we frequent. We can bike or walk to everything. Sometimes our car doesn’t move for weeks.
8. Not owning a pet. I dislike the very idea of owning a pet.
9. Not owning a lot of stuff. The less stuff I own, the less time I have to spend taking care of my stuff, organizing my stuff, looking at my stuff.
10. I do, however, own four bicycles.
11. I love places, exploring places, getting to know places and feeling an ownership for a place. I name my bikes after places. They are:
12. The bike I ride most is an orange 1984 Trek sport-touring with a Carradice bag on the back for groceries or library books and a front light powered by generator hub. It’s called the “Oswego” after the village-without-even-a-post-office in Indiana where my home church is located.
13. My fastest bike is a red Gunnar Roadie named “Guntersville” after a favorite family vacation spot, the Walkers’ cabin on the Tennessee river in Alabama.
14. My city bike is a blue Suteki mixte (sloping top-tube, a.k.a. “girls’ bike”) with a front basket and matching blue fenders. It’s called the “Urbana.” I also have a mountain bike, but it’s loaned out right now and hasn’t yet shown enough personality to earn a name or a numbered item.
15. I’ve never really mastered any particular skill – like speaking a second language or playing a musical instrument or being especially good at some sport or game. I attribute this to a whole set of character flaws ranging from fear of failure to laziness and a tendency to do things by halves. I’d like to improve.
16. I make rules for myself, like:
17. I don’t take up any new hobby or commit to any regularly-occurring event that excludes Chad. This rule occurred to me after a conversation with my Grandma White in which she said she thought husbands and wives should do their best to have hobbies in common.
18. Each day, I don’t allow myself to read anything else until I’ve read my Bible. I love this rule.
19. I like to watch football. However, sometimes I feel bad about liking football when I see people get badly injured, as it looked like Willis McGahee was in the Steelers/Ravens game.
20. I’m attracted to philosophies of Christian pacifism like the Mennonites’ and Leo Tolstoy’s.
21. Tolstoy is my second-favorite author. I think Constantine Levin, a character in Anna Karenina, is a lot like Chad.
22. George Eliot is my favorite author. I like her because she’s kind to her characters. If you’re beginning to read George Eliot, I suggest starting with Silas Marner, and then going to Adam Bede and Middlemarch. Leave The Mill on the Floss and Romola for last, or just skip them.
23. I prefer books that were written a hundred or more years ago. When I read more recent authors, I often get the feeling that they’re lying to me.
24. I don’t always follow directions. I’m stopping at 24, and I’m not tagging anybody. But I’d love to read random facts (in any quantity) about any of my friends who feel like sharing them.
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