Personal History Question 24 is, “Did you move as a child?” Oh yes. A lot. It sucked at the time. Looking back, however, I see that it brought wonderful opportunities and afforded me some wonderful friendships that I have still to this day. I was little the first time we moved. It was new and exciting. Then the second time we moved, I was going to get to be near my dad’s family. I was so happy! And it was wonderful! Then we moved to a small town in PA where I knew no one and I wanted to hate it, but couldn’t. I loved the place. School was a…

Personal Question 23 is, “Who was your favorite teacher as a child?” I had 3 that come to mind. One was my 2nd grade teacher from Henry T. Wing Elementary School in Sandwich, MA. Her name is Ms. Vagenas. She was awesome. I even kept in touch with her for a year or two after we moved away. My 3rd grade teacher from Rowlesburg School, Ms. Conklin, was another. That woman was a ray of sunshine, and she made going to school a pleasure. Then, in my middle and high school years there were LOTS that I loved. But, my favorite remains Mrs. MacDonald from Dartmouth High School. She put…

Personal History Question 22 is, “What was your favorite subject in school?” Science. I love anything to do with science. And History. I had some really great teachers for those classes, and that helped further the love of the subject, for sure.

Personal History Question 21 is, “Write about your early school memories.” I had a love/hate relationship with school. First off, looking back, I now know that what plagued me, was anxiety. It all started in 1st grade math class with Mrs. Bianchi. She was about 100 years old (I am so not kidding…) and she called me out in front of the whole class because I used my fingers to count. And when I say called me out, I mean ridiculed… I have thought about this a lot over the years. She simply could have asked me to attempt what I was doing without using my fingers. Instead, she made…

Personal History Question 20 is, “Write about your cousins.” Well, I spent time first around my maternal cousins. They were all older than me. I had one that was maybe 2 years older than me. I was the youngest. I have nice memories of all of them. But, we basically only ever saw each other on the holidays. My paternal cousins, I would see on visits to Baltimore. When we moved to West Virginia, my aunt moved there a short time later and I actually got to have day-to-day interactions with them. My cousin K and I spent a LOT of time together. He became one of my favorite people…

Personal History Question 19 is, “Write about your uncles.” My dad did not have any brothers. My uncles on his side of the family consisted of HIS uncles. There was my Uncle Lonnie, Uncle Lee, Uncle Dutch, Uncle Bob, Uncle Johnny, Uncle Al.. These were my Nanny’s brothers. My Uncle Al died from cancer when I was 8. I was not close to my Uncle Johnny or my Uncle Bob, although we saw Bob and his family more often then Johnny. I was very very close to my Uncle Lonnie and my Uncle Dutch. I saw Uncle Lee pretty regularly until his passing when I was 13, but we weren’t…