1. Describe a positive scene from childhood
My dad liked to work with wood, as a hobby. He was a Chemical Engineer. On weekends and evenings he would work in the 1/2 of the garage he had set up as a wood workshop. My mother parked her van in the garage and he parked his car on the driveway. My dad made things like our wooden salad bowl set, dinning room table and chairs to several chiming clocks including a grandfather clock. I would have been in the 4th and 5th grades during this time. The time I spent with my father in his "work shop" talking to him and watching him work has made an impact on my life. I remember the smell, taste, sound and feel or those times in the "work shop", both physically and emotionally. Last week I received the 1976 grandfather clock my father hand crafted from his estate. It was shipped from Texas. I'll call a clock repairman on Monday to help me put the weights in so I can wind it up and hear it chime once again.
2. Describe a negative scene from childhood
I was in the 5th grade on the playground with my friends. This was right after lunch, so we were only half done with the school day. My friends and I made a big circle holding hands. I believe we were playing a game of "ring around the roses" of sorts. We were on a hill as we were spinning around. I tripped in a hole and fell down landing on my left wrist. It hurt so bad I started to cry. One of the teachers on the playground came to check on me. She asked me what was wrong. I told her my wrist hurt very bad. I thought it was broken. She took me to the office and we put ice on it. She asked if I could move my fingers and I could without pain. She decided it wasn't broken. I returned to class with the ice pack and extreme pain in my wrist. My teacher asked what happened I told her. She asked if I could wiggle my fingers. I could. She said it must not be broken. I finished the school day and rode home on the bus, which caused me great pain in my wrist. So much that I continued to cry. The bus driver asked what was wrong. I told him. He asked if I could wiggle my fingers. I could. He said it must not be broken. When I got home and told my mother, who hadn't been called from school about the incident, she took me to the hospital for an x-ray. Even the nurse asked if I could wiggle my fingers. I showed her I could. By this time my wrist was very swollen and it was hard to make my fingers move, but moving them didn't hurt any worse than the pain from my wrist. The x-ray showed a broken wrist. I had a white cast put on my wrist. When I got home my father decided white was very boring. In an effort to boost my spirits he got three colored markers, red, green and blue and put stripes on my cast. The next day I went to school with the cast and all my friends and teachers signed it. The teachers couldn't believe it was broken because I could wiggle my fingers. I learned it is best to see a doctor than to rely on someone who isn't a doctor. My wrist periodically gives me trouble. At times it will "catch" and I have to shake it loose. I don't know any other way to describe it.
3. Describe a particular event from your teen-aged years
When I was in the 9th grade my father took a job in a different state when the company he was working for closed. My mother made several trips to my father's work state looking for a house. She maintained our house and family while my father was gone providing the income. What I didn't know was that my parents were really separating. The impact this had on my older brother and younger sister was different than it had on me. As products of this divorce, we all three forged on through the next several years of school, each taking our own paths for reasons that resulted from the divorce. I can still see the results today and it has been over 35 years.
4. Describe a vivid or important memory from any time in your adult years.
After 16 years of owning a dog, I found myself dog free. A year and 1/2 without a dog freed my schedule and eliminated my boarding budget. My youngest child was graduating in May and headed to college in the fall, my oldest child relocated to Denver for Grad school, my middle child graduating from college in May and headed to Graduate school in the fall. My husband and I would have a little time to travel between the children and take little much needed trips. A little bit of freedom was in view. After learning that my husband would be transferred in July, assuming I wouldn't find a new job before school started in August, maybe another dog would keep him company during the week while I was commuting to work. Maybe it would make the move a little more bearable for my youngest child. Maybe just one look at a dog she found at the animal shelter would be okay. After all, I could always say no . . . or could I? What I could never imagine is what role this dog would play in our lives in the very near future.
5. In looking back on your life, you may be able to identify particular “turning points”
Sixteen years ago on Labor Day weekend, my husband and I were on a three day weekend trip with some friends of ours. My husband had returned from two weeks of continuing education in England with our 10 year old son. I noticed my husband hadn't been feeling very well and suggested he go to the doctor before our trip. He did and the doctor said he was just tired from the trip. On the trip my husband experienced several abdominal pain as well as shortness of breath. He felt so bad he missed church! My mother was staying the weekend at our house with our three children. He drove the two hours back to our town where he went straight to a quick care facility. They told him to go directly to the emergency room. Our town didn't have a good hospital, so we stopped at home for a change of clothes, told my mother what we were doing and I drove the next hour to the hospital not knowing my husband was dying in the passenger seat beside me. My husband couldn't walk into the ER. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I have lived differently since that day. I have seen others differently and been the recipient of the kindness of many people. This event has had a substantial impact on the way my family lives, eats, exercises, sees illnesses and helps others.
