25 Random Things . . . I'm Giving In

I know this is technically a Facebook thing. But since I have nothing else to blog about right now, this is where I'm putting my list. I've been tagged numerous times and I guess the peer pressure got to me. Here it goes . . .

1. I was hit by a train my senior year of high school . . . and obviously lived to tell about it. (Long story short-I was driving my brother's car to work one day in December, and I had just had a fight with my high school boyfriend. As I drove to work, I was really concentrating on the fight, and my eyes were glued to the stretch of road directly in front of me. Well about 20 feet from a railroad crossing without rails (just lights) I realized that a train was coming down the tracks to the right of me. I slammed on the breaks, the car skidded in the snow, and I finally came to a stop with the front right corner of the car on the tracks. I had just enough time to look up and see that the train was indeed going to hit the car. It did. The car got caught on the front part of the train and drug me and the car for about 10 feet before the car "let go" and swung around so the back end of the car hit the train. When the car finally came to a stop, I let out a huge a scream, frantically got out of the car and ran to the nearest house. Later, the paramedics came and I got a bandaid. That's it. Ok, so that wasn't so short.

2. The news blurb about the crash read: "Ames woman runs her car into train." When everyone else arrived on the scene, all you could see was a train blocking all points of view, and my brother's car in the middle, so it did indeed look like I ran the car into the middle of a moving train. That's not what happened. However, many family members still refuse to believe my story and make fun of me. It's one of my biggest pet peeves and I hate it when they do this. Next time they almost die I'll remember to make fun of them. So there.

3. I have 3 older brothers and I never ever wanted a sister. Seriously. Having 3 older brothers was, and still is the best.

4. I was a magicians assistant in high school for a friend of mine. He is super talented and I got to disappear behind a sheet, and reappear in a locked trunk. So cool.

5. I took piano lessons from the time I was 6 until I was 17 or 18. I am horrible with theory and sight reading, but I absolutely love playing by ear, playing with others, and writing my own music.

6. One of my songs "almost" became the theme song for the movie "Bridges of Madison County." It was filmed in Iowa and a woman who worked for the movie was at my 4th grade piano recital and talked with my parents about the idea. However, apparently you have to an agent and all of that stuff. Oh well.

7. When one hand is wet, I have to get the other hand wet, even if it didn't need cleaned. I don't know why, but the feeling of having one hand dry and one hand wet gives me the heebie jeebies.

8. Although I miss my family terribly and loved the town I grew up in, I absolutely love living in a big city. Love it.

9. I'm almost always reading a book. It's how I relax, it's how I go to bed. I love to read.

10. When we were told that I'd given birth to a girl, Jesse and I were really disappointed. I wanted them to put her back in and come out a boy. No lie. I wouldn't trade her for the world though.

11. Having a baby is not a huge emotional life experience for me. It's just something I had to do. this is weird considering I'm such a feeler . . .

12. The next time I meet an American tourist here in Spain, I'm going to pretend to be British. Just for fun.

13. Marrying Jesse was one of the biggest steps of faith I've ever made. I even woke up the morning of the wedding terrified that I was making a mistake. 4.5 years into it, we both know now that we are the perfect match for the other person. I highly recommend marrying someone who is not exactly like you so that they can help you be who God made you to be. I love my husband 100 times more than I did the day we got married.

14. I didn't start living a Grace based life until this past fall. I always knew I needed grace to get to the cross, but had never understood that I needed it everyday after that.

15. Spanish is a beautiful language and I'm so grateful that I'm getting to learn it.

16. I used to aspire to be a composer for movie scores. Turns out you have to really know the rules and theory of music to do all that. Blech. See number 5.

17. In general, I'm not a rule follower when it comes to music, cooking, sewing or doing other creative things. I look at a recipe, but then change and modify as I want. I hate to follow sewing patterns so I just make it up as I go. Don't give me music to read, just tell me what key it's in.

18. There are four books that I've read within the past 6 months that have really helped mold my worldview or have made me think about my relationship with Christ differently: Infidel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Grace Based Parenting, and The Shack.

19. I'm shallow. I want to be friends with everyone, but I don't want to have a deep relationship with everyone. However one of my top 5 strengths from Strength Finders is "Woo." Which means I'm good at winning others over, playing the crowd, and making people feel welcome in a group. So maybe it's good that I'm shallow?

20. Although I have about 5 best friends, my mom is probably the BEST.

21. Even though I never wanted a sister, when my brother married my sister-in-law Julie, I finally got one!! She is the best.

22. Growing up, all of my best friends were from other countries: Egypt, Costa Rica, and Australia. I also had friends from Nepal and China. I loved growing up in a university town.

23. I really, really, really miss Arby's. It's my favorite fast food and I could eat there once a week if I had the money and the desire to be really fat.

24. Watching movies or episodes of "The Office" is one of my favorite ways to relax.

25. My parents taught me all I know about what it means to welcome people into your home. I love having people over. It energizes me!

Ok, next up, Renae's 10 random things about herself. She's still working on that list so you'll have to wait.