A Meme for Stace

I've done these many times before, but when Australia's lovely, intelligent Stace tags me with a meme, I become like the Borg on those Star Trek reruns -- I must comply or I will be assimilated.

Or is that annihilated?


So here's my attempt at revealing eight hitherto unheard of things about me:

1. I'm the oldest of six kids in my family and was as blonde as blonde could be until about age six. Now my thinning hair is dark brown and increasingly speckled with grey. Go figure.

2. I was born in Edmonton, grew up in Winnipeg and moved back to Edmonton after being transferred there in my first real job.

My two kids were born there and then we moved back to Winnipeg, where my two kids are now being raised. Strange...

3. As a kid, I skipped school in kindergarten. The school principal wanted to suspend me and told my mom I had significant developmental or other emotional issues.

She took me to a child psychiatrist, who said I was perfectly normal because what kid WOULDN'T skip school to go climbing trees?

4. Another kid story: When I was four, I ran out on to Logan Street and got hit by a bus.

The only thing that got hit was my head, and while my mom was in hysterics, I was OK and barely had a scratch. Does this say something about my brain function now?

5. My childhood buddy, Brett, lived in a four-storey apartment block across from the townhouse I lived in. We snuck up on the roof of his apartment building and threw little stones at the people below.

Boy, did I get into trouble for that...

6. I failed Grade 10 French. Sacre bleu! But I was forced to go to summer school to make it up.

My marks improved significantly after that, although I still can't speak French even though my heritage IS French, my grandmother spoke French and I grew up in Winnipeg's French-speaking area, St. Boniface.

7. When I brought my infant son home from an Edmonton hospital two or three days after his birth, our van was sideswiped on purpose by two young punks. We did three, 360-degree turns on the freeway (it was late November and icy).

My son slept through the whole thing.

8. My latest book is For One More Day by Mitch Albom, who wrote Tuesdays with Morrie. I haven't read Tuesdays with Morrie yet. I need to.