Joanna tagged me, so here we go. Seven wonderful things about me that you all should know and at the end seven bloggers I read and am tagging to do the same.

1. I had a very small heat stroke while descending in the gondola from King Herod’s Palace on top of Masada.
I was 13 years old at the time and was in a state of panic; when I stepped out of the gondola I tried to get through two armed guards blocking an entrance. They tried to tell me I couldn’t get through and then realized I wasn’t quite right in the head, so they whisked me away to a first aid station and started applying cool compresses all over my body and making me drink the coldest water I’ve ever tasted in my life.

2. I’ve never broken a bone in my body. Well, at least I’ve never had one diagnosed. I’m pretty sure I broke a rib or two after falling off my bike multiple times on the Arapaho trail in Winter Park. I spent months not being able to lie on my back and couldn’t take deep breaths for a week or so after. I looked like someone took a baseball bat to me and beat the livin‘ tarnation right out of me. I had bruises all over my legs, arms, back and hips. I took my kids to the local pool just when my bruises were looking their meanest and I got all sorts of sympathetic looks.

3. When I was a senior in high school my art teacher sent me to the restroom to check on a fellow classmate, Maria, who had been gone for quite a while. I found her lying on the floor of the stall, paralyzed. She was terrified. I was terrified. I ran to the office and quickly told them to call an ambulance then sprinted back to sit by Maria and hold her hand. Turns out her brother accidentally shot her in the back with a BB gun several years earlier and the BB decided that day to lodge itself against her spine, temporarily paralyzing her.

4. I want to take the Master Gardener’s classes so I’ll feel like I know what the heck I’m doing to my garden.

5. My Dad owned a vending business so our pantry was always filled with stale chips and melted candy bars and dusty soda cans. My sister and I rarely ate any of it, but my friend Carmen thought our pantry was a little slice of heaven. She would grab arms full of chips and candy and drink all the old orange soda. My parents thought we were eating and drinking all of it, so they kept bringing it home. Carmen was always grateful that my dad filled her tummy with junk food.

6. I taught myself how to drive when I was 13. I was in 8th grade and rode the bus home everyday. My sister was busy with after school stuff, so I was by myself for several hours before anyone came home. I would “steal” the keys to our Chevrolet conversion van and drive half a mile down the road, turn at the grain bins and then go back home. I went undetected until one day when I slid off the road and got the van buried up to the door in mud. That’s a story I’ll save for another time.

7. I just so happen to be one of the best puppeteers in the world. This is a talent I stopped sharing with people a long time ago. My mom started a puppet company when I was in high school and of course I had to be involved in all manners of performing. I won several competitions at The Puppet Festival in Denver. That’s all I have to say about that for now.

Now, I’m tagging..

1. Rechelle my lovely sister
2. Jenn a real life person I know and adore
3. Jennifer a fun blogger person I just met
4. Jessie a sweet young mommy I know that loves good food as much as I do
5. Crunchy Chicken a funny Seattle garden lover
6. Abby a sweet young sleep deprived mommy I know that bakes some mean yummies
7. hope4grace a funny military wife that I like to read that apparently has the cutest husband
8. anyone else that would like to share seven things about yourself and spread the meme love.