Meme memories

So I finally gave in and participated in a meme. I was tagged by several friends on Facebook, and the peer pressure finally got to me. (If you're over the age of 60, you may have no idea what a meme is or what Facebook is, but don't worry. You, too, will eventually be sucked in by the online social networking gravitational pull. Resistance is futile.)

Anyway, this particular meme (think of them as chain letters) involves writing 25 things about yourself and passing them on to a bunch of friends, who then write 25 things about themselves, and so it goes, until everyone with an Internet connection has been cornered with demands for their own 25 Things list. It's not one of those that requires you to answer specific questions -- I hate those and never participate in them. But I really enjoyed reading the various responses to this one, because it's open-ended. And I learned a lot of fascinating things about people I've known for decades.

So I thought I'd post mine here because, well, what is blogging all about, if not self-absorption? And because most of my family is not on Facebook. (Get with the program, Mom and Dad!)

Jeff is planning to do this too, but whereas I spent all of 25 minutes on mine, for an average of one minute per entry, he apparently is on the one-day-per-entry writing schedule. So you can expect to see his about the end of February.

Here are my 25 things:

1. I lived in the same town for the first 18 years of my life. The nearest actual traffic signal was 20 miles away. Population: 2,000
2. Because of this, I had no idea until I went to college that you could turn right on red.
3. At age 20 I quit college and ran off with my boyfriend to live in Los Angeles. Metropolitan area population: 14 million.
4. I feel equally at ease in towns of 2,000 or 14 million.
5. I can't start my day without coffee and a newspaper.
6. I went to graduate school and earned a master's degree for no real reason other than I was bored and needed a challenge. (Obviously, this was pre-motherhood).
7. My only child has autism but is one of the sweetest kids you're likely to find.
8. It never even occurred to me to get married until I was 30.
9. I get gripey on any day that I don't do yoga.
10. I moved to the city I currently live in simply because I wanted to learn figure skating and there was no rink in the city I lived in at the time. I did indeed learn, and got pretty good at it!
11. One of the most fun times I've ever had on New Year's Eve was in that little town where I grew up, when I spent the evening with a few close friends.
12. One of the most boring times I've ever had on New Year's Eve was in London, when I spent the evening with thousands of strangers.
13. I met my husband online in 1994, when half of America had never even heard of e-mail.
14. I have lived in a total of only three states but have traveled to at least 40.
15. I'm agnostic. But I love Christmas and always celebrate Chanukah with my husband and our little boy.
16. I once was a volunteer literacy tutor for a woman who was 40 and couldn't read. Her life really opened my eyes to a segment of society I only vaguely knew existed.
17. A group of girlfriends and I once met some charming French guys when we were crossing the English Channel and made arrangements to meet them a few nights later in Paris. Being Americans, we figured they were just like American guys and wouldn't show up (sorry, guys), so we went out on the town that night and later found out that they had come to our hotel, all dressed up to take us out. This was more than 20 years ago, and I STILL feel single-handedly responsible for the Ugly American stereotype.
18. Speaking of Ugly Americans, I've always been really ashamed that I speak only one language.
19. I have no idea how much I weigh. And don't care.
20. I love working out and do so on a regular basis, but you wouldn't know it from looking at me.
21. I hate pretentious people and go out of my way to avoid buying anything with a designer label.
22. While I have no interest in other women's cars or clothes or jewelry, I get insanely jealous of women who have toned upper arms. (While everyone else was admiring Michelle Obama's gown on inauguration night, I was admiring her biceps.)
23. I have been in potentially life-threatening medical situations twice in my life: Once when I was dragged beneath a car at age 8 and once when I was giving birth at age 36.
24. I could live the rest of my life without television or movies, but not without books.
25. I choose to look at age-related body changes as evidence of all the good things I've experienced in life. Those brown spots on my arms? They remind me of all those childhood summers I spent riding ponies on my grandpa's farm. That extra flab around my waist? All that gelato I ate in Italy! And a bit of cellulite where my tummy was all stretched out a few years ago? That's my greatest gift of all: My little boy.