“My friend care for your psyche, know thyself…”
– Socrates
Five things about me:
1. When I was thirteen I bought a pillow with Clint Eastwood’s face imprinted on it. Every night I kissed him goodnight, then held him close to my wild beating heart.
2. My mother used to tell me not to try new things because they would be too hard for me to learn. I grew up doubting my abilities. Thanks Mom.
3. I’m afraid my ears and nose will keep growing (they really do!) like my father’s did and I’ll start to look more like him as I age. The aging process is interesting. Letting go of who I looked like in exchange for someone I might not recognize as me is a slow unraveling process. As I grow older I need to learn how to accept the changes of how the world sees me, and how I see myself.
4. I’m bored at social events where everyone sits around making small talk and drinking. I usually wind up on the floor playing with whatever kids might be around. When there aren’t any children present I start to act like one to try and lighten things up.
5. I can be frugal to s fault. I learned this from my father who liked to wear a hand-me-down photographer’s shooting vest he got from my husband to All-You-Can-Eat Chinese restaurants. At his apartment he lined the eight pockets with Zip-lock plastic bags. At the restaurant he loaded his plate with egg rolls and peel-and-eat-shrimp. When he sat down he stuffed the extra food into his plastic lined pockets when no one was looking. “Gotta get your money’s worth,” he said. At a Christmas party in the lobby of an apartment building in Marin County where I lived an elderly woman sat next to me. She ate as much of the free hors d’oeuvres as she could. “This prosciutto is so good. I wish I’d thought to bring a plastic bag,” she said. I told her how my father’s photographer’s vest lined with Zip-lock bags. Her eyes opened wide.“Is he single?” Yes. “Does he live in California?” No, Florida. She smacked her lips just like my father. “That’s too bad, he sounds like my kinda guy.”
