Answer Me This is Back!

Catholic All Year is once again hosting her summer link-up series Answer Me This and I'm so excited to participate!  Let's jump right in:

1. Any big plans for the summer?

Out on the lake on our Memorial Day trip

This summer is going to be pretty low-key, with a few visits with family.  We officially kicked off summer with a trip to Alabama for Memorial Day.  Chief and I briefly visited Roanoke Saturday- a friend of mine had her bridal shower and Chief spent the afternoon with "Aunt Biz", my baby sister who has an internship at the Mill Mountain Zoo for the summer.  My other sister, who just got engaged, will be visiting at the end of the month to do some marriage prep and help her fiance find a new apartment (which will eventually be their apartment, next summer, so that's exciting) and then we're all heading back down to Roanoke for the Independence Day holiday.  I expect we'll visit Aunt Biz a couple more times in the month of July to keep her company, since the drive is so short from here.  Then we have a wedding here locally to attend at the beginning of August that I'm very much looking forward to- I love weddings, especially when I'm not the one planning them!  Other than that, I don't think we'll be doing much around here this summer, other than maybe throwing a couple of cookouts and dinner parties.

2. What's the strangest thing you believed as a child?

Honestly I can't really answer this question.  My parents were always pretty direct with us as kids about the way the world worked- they would explain things truthfully, though perhaps more simply and more "kid-friendly", but never an outright lie.  For example, the answer to the question, "Where do babies come from?" was something along the lines of "When a Mommy and a Daddy love each other very much, they pray very hard, and then God gives them a baby."  Which is true, if extremely simplistic.  I never believed you could get pregnant by kissing, nor did I believe Mommy ate the baby and that's how the baby got in her tummy.  My parents were pretty elaborate about Santa, though; we sometimes got handwritten notes from him, especially the year that I heard him delivering his gifts in the living room and got up to investigate.  We woke to a stern note from Mr Claus explaining that if I had seen him, he would've been forced to leave our house present-less- luckily for us, I've always been basically blind without my glasses, so I didn't see anyone in the dark and got straight back in bed.  I totally believed the threat, though.  Does that count?

Oh, how about this- I had an imaginary friend.  My aunt was a teenager, and one time she was talking to her friend Jacqueline on the phone and she let me talk to her.  I was maybe 6, and I don't know what I would've talked to this girl about but I loved telling people that I had spoken on the phone to a girl named Jacqueline, and recounting the details of the conversation.  The more times I told people about this grand event, the more complicated our conversation became, until finally somebody called me out- "We were standing right there, you didn't talk to Jacqueline about that."  That's because it was a different conversation with Jacqueline, you see.  We were best friends now, and we spoke on the phone all the time.  And when we moved, Jacqueline moved, too- right across the street from us.  I'm pretty sure she was a full-fledged imaginary friend who would play with me even though nobody else could see her.  So yeah, Jacqueline- that's the craziest thing I ever believed.

3. What is your favorite amusement park ride?

Was there ever a doubt?

Mission: Space at EPCOT is, hands down, the single coolest amusement park ride I've ever been on.  It's an incredible concept, it is a mastery of Imagineering, and every single detail, from the queue to the safety briefing to the ride itself, are completely spot on.  I'm so glad Mr. Geek refused to let me chicken out on him- this ride is amazing.

4. What's on your summer reading list?

image via Amazon

I have a nice big stack of books I've received as gifts since Christmas (maybe even earlier) and it's really time I got around to reading them.  This one is the top of the list.  I think I'll renew my reading-on-my-lunch-break habit.

5. Have you ever fallen asleep in public?

On planes, in cars, on buses, between classes at a dance convention, during a movie very, very late at night that was not as good as I'd hoped it'd be, at work....

Yeah, all the time.

We were joking earlier when Miss Chief proclaimed, "Mommy sleepy," that, yes, since the day I got pregnant- since the day I became Mommy- I have been sleepy.  It's a permanent state of being.

6. What is your favorite smell?

He smells pretty good, too

Ooh, that's a tough one.  Either brownies baking in the oven, or a freshly bathed baby.

Two of the absolute best smells in the world.

Head on over to Catholic All Year and give your answers!

Much love,
The Geeks