The First Lesson

You have to understand that it's not so much the neurosis or obsessive-compulsive behavior as much as it's the quirks. When asked to describe me, most people - family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances, waiters, hostesses and the like - will use some form of the word quirk: quirky, quirkazoid, quirka, quirkiness. You get the picture.

It's the age-old (well, modern age-old) question of "is she born that way or is it something she's learned?" Nature or nurture?

I guess I better go back a few years for the picture to clearly develop. Many situations have contributed to my current state of quirks. Throughout the next few months, I'll share a few of the highlights.

Flashback more than 35 years. I'm 3-years-old in South Dakota, on vacation with my family. We are at some sort of reptile park. I'm riding the largest turtle I've even seen. Although a bit fuzzy, I can still recall the images. Larger-than-me-turtle; lots of tourists; my parents, grandparents, brother and sister; and the large pile of dirt just to the right of the slow moving tortoise. Okay, in my own defense, I was three. How was I to know that the large pile of dirt just to the right of the slow traveling tortoise was really a pile of ... poo. That's right. Poo. Turtle feces. Tortoise excrement.

I don't recall how I actually ended up in the middle of that pile of poo, but I vividly recall my mom whipping my sandals off my feet and throwing them away. It may sound weird but that was my first real sense of loss. They were navy blue. And I loved them. I loved those sandals and I lost those sandals. And it was somehow all my fault.

Life, I've learned, is full of piles of poo. But there is an abundance of new sandals.

Let the Blogging Begin

Everyone has crazy things happen to them throughout their life, right? I'm just one of the millions who have those "are you kidding me?" moments and situations that just seem too unreal to be true.

So I decided to join the bloggers who make me laugh, think and cry ... like Amy Talcott Kennard, and share my stories. I hope that they make you laugh if nothing else. For the stories I will share have certainly made me laugh - some I can just now laugh at. You'll find out later why the title of my blog "And Then I Ate Mold" is so fitting.

Please be patient while I figure this blogging thing out.