100 Things About Me

1. I am a natural redhead.
2. I am the mother of two.
3. I am a psychotherapist.
4. No, listening to other people's problems doesn't depress me.
5. It feels like an honor to have them share themselves so openly with me.
6. I only got the Ph.D. because I was an overachiever.
7. Unfortunately, I got over that about 6 years into the program, before I was done.
8. That's why it took me 10 years to finish.
9. My dissertation evaluated the sandtrays of pediatric HIV and AIDS patients.
10. I had the kids do sandtrays and then I interpreted them.
11. It was interesting when I started, not so much by the end.
12. I should've picked something easier.
13. My dream job is to be an artist.
14. Although, sometimes being a mail person looks good too.
15. You can walk around in shorts, be outside and listen to music.
16. I am 5 feet tall.
17. I am the shortest one in my family.
18. I think I was supposed to be taller, but I started drinking coffee too soon.
19. I met my husband when I was 30.
20. Until then, I was pretty sure I'd never get married.
21. I wasn't good at relationships.
22. I had a plan to go to the sperm bank when I was 35 and buy some redheaded sperm.
23. Fortunately, I didn't have to. The sperm came free when I married G.
24. And fortunately, some of it was redheaded.
25. So we have a little redheaded guy.
26. His cousins are redheads too, but they're the cousins on the Italian side, G's side, not my side, the Irish side.
27. Which is kind of odd, since no one in G's immediate family has red hair, but me, my mom and my sister all have red hair.
28. All his cousins on my side have dark hair.
29. My sisters' husbands' genes won out.
30. I have two sisters.
31. One is 19 years older than I.
32. The other is 12 years older than I.
33. I was a mid-40's surprise for my parents.
34. We didn't know either son's name until he was born.
35. Shortly before the first was born, we were deciding between a name beginning with A and a name beginnning with S.
36. Also shortly before he was born, G. and I each had someone in our extended families die - and their names both started with A; So that's the one we picked.
37. A's middle name is my mom's maiden name.
38. It's nicely Irish.
39. We made Ben's middle name G's mom's maiden name (which, by a quirky coincidence, also happens to be my sister's married name).
40. It took 5 days to induce me.
41. We started on Sunday, A. was finally born on Friday.
42. He's always done things on his own time.
43. I do, too.
44. I got married at 34.
45. And had my first baby at 36.
46. I never, ever sleep through the night.
47. I always wake up at least once, often twice.
48. I probably stay up too late.
49. But I love the time after the boys go to bed.
50. If I could make my own schedule, I'd go to bed at midnight and wake up at 9am.
51. Usually, G. gets up with A. and B., which is very nice.
52. But lately I haven't been able to sleep in.
53. I think it's anxiety.
54. I was ambivalent about having a second child.
55. I enjoy it more than I thought I would. So far.
56. It's not as hard as I was afraid it would be.
57. I love ice cream.
58. I don't have a favorite flavor.
59. I like rocky road, mint chocolate chip, macademia nut (esp. when pregnant), and jamoca almond fudge.
60. Cherry Garcia and Phish Food are good too.
61. I'm a die-hard liberal.
62. I think most people who work in social services are.
63. I also work sometimes on a mobile crisis team with the police.
64. My radio name is "MH 8".
65. MH stands for "mental health."
66. I've had to call for emergency cover a couple of times.
67. I've fired a handgun, a shotgun and an automatic.
68. Not at anyone, silly.
69. It's harder than I thought it would be.
70. Automatics are very powerful, and it's hard to keep your feet in one place.
71. All in all, though, I'm not a bad shot.
72. I've seen all kinds of dead bodies in all kinds of states.
73. It's an interesting job.
74. But it doesn't pay enough to do all the time, and it's a high burnout job.
75. So I do it once or twice a month.
76. I don't want to be a full-time stay-at-home mom.
77. Usually. Sometimes it sounds good.
78. But I think I'd go stir-crazy.
79. I work two days a week now.
80. We have not used daycare, preschools or nannies.
81. G and I alternate our hours so we're providing our own child care.
82. It works pretty well.
83. We share an office.
84. I drive a Mazda.
85. I don't want an SUV unless it's a hybrid.
86. My favorite color is blue.
87. I like most kinds of music.
88. Except opera and hard-core hip hop.
89. Oh, and metal.
90. Everything else, though, I listen to.
91. Including country.
92. And Christian Contemporary.
93. Although I'm not sure I'm a Christian.
94. I was raised Catholic.
95. But the Catholic church pisses me off.
96. I don't think it matches my values and beliefs anymore.
97. I like Unitarian Universalism, except for the clunky name.
98. I have huge breasts for a 5' tall person.
99. I hope they go down eventually.
100. I'm kind of messy.