So Random It Will Make Your Eyes Water

Angie of Flibbertigibberish tagged me the week before Thanksgiving with the Seven Random Things meme. It's a fun meme -- one of my favorites -- so I am more than happy to play along. Problem is, it's just so terribly difficult to find seven random things about myself.

<crickets chirp, crickets chirp>

Alrighty. I didn't expect you to believe me anyway.

So without further ado, here are a few of my peculiarities so you can mock me mercilessly get to know The Real Me. I'm just warning: It ain't pretty.

1. If the phone company assigns me a phone number with too many odd numbers, I will force them to give me a new one. Because even numbers are happy, and odd numbers give me the heebie-jeebies. Never again will I submit to a number like 505-9995. Never again.

2. I went to a Richard Marx concert in the early 1990s. Wilson Phillips opened for him. I don’t know whether to cry or to laugh at that memory.

3. I love the smell of new tennis shoes. There’s something about that rubber sole that makes my pulse pound. It’s like a drug for me.

4. I secretly adore children’s television programming. It’s fun, educational and innocent. I’m afraid that, when my children are all in school, a delivery man will find me watching “Noggin” by myself. (This is especially ironic considering how much grief I used to give my Mom when I discovered she occasionally watched “Sesame Street” even after she had no little ones at home anymore.)

5. We moved four times during our tenure in San Diego. But we always lived within a mile or so of Naval Air Station Miramar (now Marine Air Station Miramar), the home of Top Gun. (At least, it was the home of Top Gun when the movie was filmed. Now the Top Gun school is in Nevada and why am I telling you all this useless information anyway? Sorry. I think I slipped into journalist mode there for a minute.)

My point is, no matter where we lived, our home was constantly subjected to low-flying, loud, military jets. And nothing could have made me happier. It was just so wicked and awesome and countless other '80s words. I especially loved it when the F-16s were low enough to make the air crackle as they buzzed our house. As our older neighbors often said, “Yes sir, it’s loud. But that’s the sound of freedom!” I still miss the daily roar of those planes.

6. I have a birthmark in the shape of a funky “K” on my leg. The summer I was a camp counselor, I told all my campers that the birthmark convinced my parents to name me Kelly. Yes, I know. I’m evil.

7. Pie is my favorite dessert. I used to be a dyed-in-the-wool chocoholic, but these days, I’m all about fruit. Apple? Divine. Pumpkin? Vegetables for dessert. Blueberry? Get the ice cream. I’m especially a sucker for authentic Key lime pie (which is not the same thing as "lime" pie that is green; that pie is an aberration and just plain wrong). Real Key lime pie is yellow and will make your jaw ache from the perfect foil of sweet and tart. If it's on the menu at a good restaurant, I will not be able to resist ordering a huge slice, even if I need to take it to go.

I'm now supposed to tag seven other bloggers to keep the link love going. So I'm tagging one of my new favorite bloggers The Queen B, one of my perennial favorite bloggers The Preacher's Wife, a few real-life friends (Calandra, Mindy and Becky), a blogger who is thoughtful, funny and raising three of the cutest triplets on the planet at Lots of Scotts, and a blogger who probably gets so much traffic she won't be able to play but I'm going to try anyway at It Coulda' Been Worse.

And in case one of my tagees has done this before and can't come up with seven new random things about themselves (to which I would reply: HA!), may I suggest that you narrow the scope to "Seven Random Things: Christmas Edition" or "Seven Random Things: This Really Annoys Me" or "Seven Random Things: The Snob Factor." (Which is a really good post by another great blogger, Veronica at Toddled Dredge. Maybe I'll tag her too. What the heck? It's Monday, I'm drinking my coffee and I'm feeling the love.)

I'd also tag my husband, Mr. Love Well, who recently started his own blog so he can share what he's learning through his study of John 15. But I think that would open a can of worms that is better left shut. And buried. Underground. Where it can't hurt anyone. Like nuclear waste.

Oh. And if you'd like to make a pregnant girl feel better about herself, now that her weirdness has been posted on the Internet for all to see? (And for the second time, I might add.) Leave me a comment and tell me something random about you. Spread the joy. 'Tis the season.

<Group hug>

Go in peace.