25 Random Things About Me

If you're a Facebook fan you've seen this kind of thing on there. Like alot of other folks I've ignored it for as long as I could but the day comes when you wonder to yourself if you can come up with that many things so a few minutes ago I sat down and jotted down the following. It's interesting what rises to the top! I kept them in the order they came to mind. I haven't posted them on FB yet and don't know if I will but I feel comfortable putting them on here. So anyway, here they are...would love to hear your 25, your 10, your 5??

1. I was named Maribeth after my oldest brother’s kindergarten girlfriend. I don’t have a middle name.
For most of my life I didn’t like my name and spelled it M-a-r-y, but now I really like it.
2. I’ve kept diaries and journals since I learned to write and can’t imagine not being able to process life without them. I prefer fine point pens and really random journals from McKays Used Books.
3. I could live without a television. I could not live without books.
4. I went hang gliding for my 50th birthday and wish I could freeze frame that experience.
5. For the longest time I sensed we wouldn’t live in Michigan for the rest of our lives and was excited to see the Lord leading us to move to Chattanooga, TN seven years ago.
6. My favorite seasons in order are spring, fall, summer, winter.
7. I love rummage sales, used bookstores, thrift stores, road trips, Community coffee, New City worship, smoothies, my mom’s white robe, walks with Dale Allen, John Denver, Macrina, solitude, family time, pesto, kettle corn, phone calls from my brother Mike, fresh flowers, candles, Facebook, the “Hallelujah Chorus”, the smell after rain, YL leaders, solitude, GTCA conversations, Bach’s cello suites, paper, chocolate peanut butter ice cream, Pandora.com, the smell of sun tan lotion, jigsaw puzzles, musicals, quotes, campfires.
8. Some of my favorite vacations have been to warm Paradise places like Cozumel, Cancun, and the Cayman Islands and I realize now they were timely gifts from God.
9. I have 3 amazing sons and I love the women who love them. Ever since I was little I wanted to be a wife and mom. Being a grandma is one of the best roles I’ve ever played.
10. I enjoy baking more than cooking.
11. I feel like my job at Young Life has been divinely picked for me and I love it! I’ve always enjoyed being around young adults.
12. Dale and I met at a small Bible college in MI called Reformed Bible College aka Romance Blossoms Constantly. It did!
13. 2005 was one of the hardest years of my life as I lost both my parents to cancer and I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
14. When I turned 40 I ran a 25K – that’s 15.5 crazy miles. I haven’t run since that day.
15. One of the best things we did when the boys were little was camp together at the Conference Grounds, Tyler Creek, Gun Lake and Brower Park.
16. I am married to the kindest man in the world who never loses his cool or faith even in the toughest of times. Some of his wisest, truest words are “It will be all right.”
17. The day of my first date with Dale Allen I was driving my big gold Chevy Impala and ran a red light because I was so busy gushing to my best friend about him. My dad tied down the hood with wire and didn’t ever get it fixed. From then on the car’s nickname was “The Dead Chicken” since farmer’s hung dead chickens around the necks of dogs who had a tendency to get into chicken coops – it was supposed to help them never do it again.
18. One of the neatest things I’ve ever done is to sit directly under a waterfall and feel it pounding on my head and then later to float on my back in the eddying pool at the bottom of it.
19. I was raised on a farm and did all that stuff like raise cattle, ride ponies, drive a John Deere, gather eggs, feed corn cobs to the pigs, etc.
20. I love taking pictures of big and little events and always tell my reluctant subjects, “Someday you’ll thank me” and a lot of them have already.
21. My favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have gained an appreciation for the observation of Lent and attend an Episcopal church on Ash Wednesday.
22. My favorite places in Chattanooga are the Walking Bridge, McKays, Coolidge Park, the Riverwalk, the Mtn. Opry, Clumpies, the Hang Gliding launch, but I especially love having coffee by the tables on the Bluff View by the bocce court with a good friend.
23. I was the speaker at Joe’s 8th grade graduation.
24. I spent some time last spring at Thomas Merton’s monastery in Kentucky and I hadn't felt that peaceful in a long time.
25. I love life and I really do live in a heightened awareness of its beauty and brevity since the bout with cancer.