Five Things

I've never done a meme before -- I prefer blathering on with original content -- but when Rebel Mother challenged me, I decided to give it a shot. Bucking the rules, as usual, I'm just doing five of the ten questions, 'kay? So here are things you probably didn't know about me:

1. Apart from your house and your car, what is the most expensive item you've ever bought?
Foregoing jewelry too, it's a tossup between some pro sports events. Eeny, meeny, miney, mo. Okay, tickets to see Sugar Ray Leonard fight Tommy Hearns at Caesar's in Vegas. 1989. Let's just say, we paid over a grand each for the tix. So I was a little bummed when 12 rounds ended in a draw, and though I wanted Sugar Ray to win, I think Tommy bested him. Plus, my voice went hoarse from screaming so much. "Sugar Ray! Sugar Ray!" and "You suck!"

2. What is your most treasured memory?
I have a bunch, among them the births of my own four babes (born separately or I'd have my own show too: Four Score and Jesus God No More!). Also high on my list: participating in the births of four nanababies. That your daughters trust Mom to be there (over their guys) makes you feel kind of important. Till they "remember" they still know more than you.

3. What is the best gift you received as a child?
A $5 bill. 1965, I'm 10. Dad had gone to Seattle for work and left my mom and his six kids in Phoenix until he could send for us. We had to make every penny last. One day my mom sent me to Safeway with the only money she had, $5 (which bought a whole lot more then) for bread and milk, and somewhere in the candy aisle, I lost it. Then I had to go home and tell her. I was so upset to see tears in my mom's eyes (and how PISSED she was!) that I exiled myself to the front porch. I felt like I'd stabbed her in the heart and deserved solitary confinement. At sundown, a family friend of my dad's found me there sobbing. He pulled a five out of his wallet and said, "Go tell your mom you found it." That guy saved my life. I have been guilt-free ever since. Okay, that guilt-free part was a lie, but I like the idea.

4. What was your highlight or low light of 2008?
Being the worst year ever, there were many low lights, but topping the list: my baby sister died in a car accident, and I will never get to tell her, face to face, all the things I wanted her to know. We will never again get together to play Pick One and laugh our asses off. She will never again piss me off for always, always being HOURS late, or toking up, or never returning phone calls. Yeah, sometimes even the bad stuff you'd forgive if only there was a way to turn back the clock. The highlight? I got two new sons-in-law. One daughter eloped to the islands and one went down to the JP's office in Austin. I guess they're both keepers.

5. If you were a comic book/strip or cartoon character who would you be?
Jessica Rabbit. I love that she's absurdly sexy and faithful to the core, but mostly I'm attracted to guys who bounce around haplessly and like to live dangerously. Jessica's famous one-liner: "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." Yeah, me too.

Now go hop across the pond and say hi to Rebel Mother, and tell her the Fragrant Liar sent you.
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