Getting to Know You: The Answer to Five Truths & a Lie

Thanks so much to all of you who played "Five Truths & a Lie" with me! Most of the guesses came in on Instagram, and there was a three-way tie between numbers 3, 4, and 6 as being the most commonly guessed statement. The lie was... number 4! Congratulations to "warrickfam" for being the first person to guess the lie correctly! You've earned 5 extra entries into the upcoming giveaway of your choice. If you need a refresher on what the giveaways will be, click here. {For anyone who earned extra entries, just let me know which giveaway you want to apply them toward and how many you earned when I launch the giveaway. I will try to remember as well, but I lost a glass of milk today. I'm not kidding. I hope I find it with my eyes before my nose, if you know what I mean. Sigh.}

{1} I had a two-year-old at home and was pregnant with my second son when I applied and was accepted into a graduate program at a local university. I started work toward a Master of Arts degree in English.

True! The timing. What was I thinking? Well, it was during that difficult and dark period that I talk about here. {Skip down to "Motherhood" to find the reference.} I was hurting deeply, and I also had a Jesus-shaped hole in my soul that I was trying to fill with, well, anything. In this particular instance, it was education. Although I did (and still do!) dream of writing a book one day and I've always enjoyed learning, there wasn't really a great reason for me to get my Master's degree at this time in my life. Further, the creative writing course I took was awful. (In that class, the grittier and more disturbing the writing, the better. The gimmick of using shock value to hook readers was lauded over craftsmanship in storytelling.) After that course, I doubted the quality of the program, and I didn't feel the need to continue inconveniencing myself and my family for a goal that didn't seem to have much of a purpose. And, oh yeah, then I had a baby, which was a bit of a distraction. 😉

{2} My first job (other than babysitting) was in the office of the construction company my great-grandfather founded in 1926.

True! My maternal great-grandfather started the R. M. Murphy Construction Company, which is today known as MCC, Inc. Some fun facts about MCC, Inc.:

{a} MCC, Inc. is one of only two companies in the nation to offer services in concrete, blacktop, stone, excavating, and trucking. Most companies provide only one of these services.
{b} The company has been featured on the television shows Mega Machines and Manufacturing Marvels on the Fox Business Channel.
{c} MCC, Inc. provides field trip opportunities for students of all ages, elementary through college. Students visit the quarries to study geology and find fossils.

Because it's a family company, I see a lot of {you guessed it} family whenever I drop by the office: my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins. When I worked in the office during the summers of high school and college, I helped in the billing and accounts payable departments. In the very beginning, when I didn't really understand what it was like to work in an office yet, I would zip through my tasks as fast as I could and then get lost in Jane Eyre or a similar book afterward. Ack! So embarrassing.

{3} My grandmother (my dad's mom) lived with us for a couple of years. We shared a bathroom.

True! When I was in fifth grade (or so), my parents transformed my paternal grandmother's ranch into a two-story home. My dad's intention was to take care of my grandmother, who had been widowed when I was four and was living by herself out in the country. He designed the house with a huge bedroom for my grandma, and she and I shared a bathroom. (I remember one instance in which she was furious with me for hogging the bathroom. She had to get ready to go somewhere, and I was taking a looooooong pre-teen bubble bath, which I felt was absolutely necessary because, well, I was a pre-teen.) My grandma wasn't really happy with the living arrangement (not just due to my bathroom hogging!), so she eventually moved into an apartment in town. She had learned to enjoy being independent during her time alone in the country and, although she loved us, just preferred to do her own thing. My grandma went home to the Lord only a month after Dan and I were married. I adore her, and I will always consider her to be one of my best friends.

{4} I am half-Irish, and I am pretty good at Irish step-dancing if I do say so myself.

Lie! This is a big fat lie because both parts of it are wrong. Even though the Irish side of my heritage was emphasized a lot when I was little, I'm really only 25% Irish (not 50%). As for Irish step-dancing, I can do an impression of one of those dancers from Riverdance, but by no means would I consider myself even remotely good.

{5} When I was little, my left leg was turned inward. I had to wear cables on my legs to straighten it out.

True! I still have the cables down in our basement, aka the black hole that contains all things in the universe. The cables ran between a belt and a special pair of white shoes, which my artistic mother would paint over with rainbows, kitties, and other designs I liked. I had to wear them all day long, even during my afternoon nap. A uniquely intelligent child (har-har), I usually enjoyed my nap, but the cables were so uncomfortable, I would cry when it came time to lie down in them. My mother persuaded me to try, though, by promising me a piece of chocolate after a satisfactory nap. (I've always been highly motivated by sugar.)

How did my leg get turned inward? I don't think it was something I was born with, but, as a toddler, I screwed up my muscle development by always sitting in the same position with my left leg jacked way to the side. For a long time, I physically could not sit criss-cross-applesauce-style, and one of my legs is still more flexible than the other.

{6} I've only been to Disney World once, and my mom describes it as "the vacation from hell." I was hospitalized for dehydration as soon as we arrived home.

True! This one really deserves a whole post to itself, but I am pretty foggy on the details because I was (a) 8 years old and (b) sick with the stomach flu at the time. So, until I can find documentation to jog my memory, here's what I can recall. My family went on a 5-day trip to Orlando. The night we arrived in Flordia, my mom fell sick the stomach flu. She wasn't feeling well enough to leave the hotel, so my dad took me and my brother to one of our day-long excursions. (I think it might have been Sea World.) At some point, I caught the stomach bug, so my mom had to stay back at the hotel again, this time to take care of me. That day, we missed Universal Studios. On the plane ride back to Wisconsin, I could not stop throwing up, even though I really hadn't had anything to eat or drink for quite some time. I used up my air sickness bag, so the other passengers on the flight donated theirs to me. I used up all of theirs too. My brother was so unnerved by my incessant puking (Who wouldn't be?), that he had a full-out panic attack. And my dad was so embarrassed by all of us that, when a flight attendant asked him a question about helping his family, he pretended not to know us. Not just to be funny, either. He was just that humiliated. {By the way, Dan, when you proofread this... If you ever do that to me, I will show you this really neat trick where I can make flesh-melting laser beams shoot out of my eyes. Kidding! I know you'd never do that.} Anyway, when we got home, I was hospitalized for dehydration and guess what kind of hospital gown they gave me? A Mickey Mouse hospital gown! (Cue the reference to Alanis Morissette's infamous song.) I did kind of enjoy my hospital stay though. We didn't have cable at home, and I discovered Nick, Jr. and was especially impressed by Eureka's Castle. I also really dug how my bed could go up and down.

That's it! If you're inspired to do your own "Five Truths & a Lie," I'd love for you to write them in the comments here, Facebook, or Instagram. It's too late to earn extra entries now, but I'd still love to play and get to know you better. Aaaaaand it's fun. I promise. 😉