11 Questions, 11 Answers

The elegant, thoughtful Lindsey of A Design So Vast tagged me the other day, and her questions were so thought-provoking I simply had to answer them. Below, for your enjoyment:

1. What is your favorite book?  Why?

There are a handful of books I come back to over and over again, many of them childhood favorites: Little Women, the Anne of Green Gables series, the Betsy-Tacy series, the Little House series. As an adult, I’ve been drawn to Madeleine L’Engle’s memoirs, particularly A Circle of Quiet, the first volume. She so perfectly articulates the joys and challenges of being a woman, a writer and a person of faith.

2. What song brings you back most viscerally to a moment in your history?  Where does it take you?

In high school, my friend Mike and I would blast pop music as we drove to lunch in his dark red Toyota Corolla. One of our collective favorites was Eve 6′s “Here’s to the Night.” On my way out the door to school one morning, I opened the front door to find a small, glass bottle of Stewart’s Orange & Cream soda (my favorite) on the porch. Wrapped around it was a strip of paper with the title line from the song – “Here’s to the nights we felt alive” – scrawled in Mike’s handwriting.

I still have that bottle. And I don’t hear that song often any more, but every time I do, my breath catches in my chest and I remember.

3. Who is your favorite character in fiction?

Oh, I can’t pick just one. I have so many heroines, many of them from the books above – Anne Shirley, Betsy Ray, Jo March, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Emily Byrd Starr. Since I was a child I’ve made lifelong friends in the pages of my favorite books.

4. What is your favorite food?  What about foods you abhor?

I love fruit. Raspberries are my favorite, but I’ll eat any kind of berry, and I adore peaches and nectarines, grapes and bananas (but not melons). I’m a chocoholic (dark chocolate preferred), and a lover of tomatoes, goat cheese and anything with fresh basil. I could live on soup for weeks. And my last meal will be Tex-Mex, with plenty of chips, salsa and guacamole.

I despise: pickles, hot dogs and anything from McDonald’s. (Ew ew ewwww.)

5. Are you a morning or a night person?

I’m a night owl – which is rather unfortunate since I hold a 9-to-5 job. I like mornings, but I like them quiet and unhurried – which is rarely the case these days.

6. What is your default font when you write on your computer?

Georgia or Garamond – they’re both more whimsical than boring Times New Roman or juvenile Arial, but still classy.

7. How many siblings do you have?  How many children do you have (as of now)?

I have one sister, who is 17 months younger than me. She’s tall, blonde, sporty, extroverted – so many things I am not – but we grew up side by side and we love one another fiercely. I don’t have any children yet, but I will be an aunt twice over this summer.

8. What season do you like best?

I am an autumn girl. Scarves, boots, red leaves overhead and dry ones crunching on the ground, indigo skies, fingers wrapped around mugs of tea, chai lattes, crisp breezes and sunny days. The sweet melancholy of the year’s turning, the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,” and the sharpened-pencil anticipation of back-to-school time.

9. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

First I wanted to be a mom (like my mom), then a teacher, then a writer. So far I’ve got two out of three.

10. If you practice yoga (even sporadically), what is your favorite pose?

I’m a lapsed yogini, but oh, how I love a good downward-facing dog.

11. When was the last time you cried?

I tear up almost daily over books or blog posts that move me. But the last time I sobbed, really sobbed, was in a dark car talking to my mother, after learning my Mimi was in the hospital with pneumonia. (She died a couple of weeks later.)

The game is to tag other folks, of course – but I had trouble coming up with a list of people to tag. So, if you like, answer these questions below, or on your own blog. It’s always such fun to learn these little snippets about people.

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