A New Month, A New Challenge

One of my blog friends, Whitney from It’s Gravy Baby, has issued a 31 Day Challenge.  The challenge is to basically write a post each day from the list of prompts given, to let your readers get to know you better. While I think most of my readers know me pretty well, because, well, I tell you so much about ME all the time, I am going to take her up on this mostly because I think it will be fun. So, the prompt for today is to post a photo of myself with 10 facts about me.

This is me at about 4 years old. I vaguely remember this dress and in my head, I had always thought it was brown. A couple of years ago, my mother told me it was burgundy. I guess that my little girl self had no word for burgundy so my brain stored the information as brown.

I have two older brothers, two younger brothers, and one younger sister.  My youngest brother was killed in an accident in 1979. I still miss him.

I have three children. My son will be 40 this year! In this photo, that is me on the left holding Becca. She was 17 months old. Seth, who was 3, is sitting on the car. My friend, Biba, holding Emily, who was 1 month old.

I also have a step-daughter, Becky. This is what she looked like when we first met. I love her just as  much as I love my own children. She just got married last week and is so happy.

I worked for a large corporation for twenty years. I got dressed up and went to an office, and pushed paper around on a desk for much of that time. While it was a good job, had great benefits, and for the first seven years I could switch my schedule around so I could be with my children, I really hated that job. Being laid off, or SIPP”d as they called it, was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I was a Girl Scout leader for eight  years when my girls were growing up. We did a lot of things, from camping four  times a year; going on a 10 day trip on Amtrak to Washington, DC, Boston, and New York; to serving as pages at the Georgia State capitol. That’s me in the back row, far right next to the Georgia State Flag.

I bought a house in 1984. It was a good house, with room for me and the children to grow up in. It had a lovely fireplace, and almost an acre of yard. My husband and I sold it in 2000 and bought an RV to live in. I don’t miss that house.

This is my home now. We have lived fulltime in an RV since August of 2000. We worked in resorts and privately owned campgrounds in Georgia, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kansas until 2008. That year, we were hired by the National Park Service at the Grand Canyon. To say I love my life would be such an understatement, but I really don’t know how else to say it.

I have five grandchildren. This photo was taken before Amelia was born, so she gets one photo all by herself. But just to set the record straight–I love them all equally. And I think they are ALL the cutest grandchildren, ever!

Here I am standing on top of the world at Cape Final on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a four mile round trip hike to get there. I am proud to say that I have hiked on every trail at the North Rim, although I only went to the first bend in the North Kaibab Trail. I know my limitations.

So, although the challenge was for 1 photo of myself, and I gave you, um, 11, that’s just how I roll. If you’d like to play along,  you can click on the button to get to the linky: