I want to thank Ida Chiavaro for nominating me to receive this award. Though I don’t usually tag others to receive, I offer it up to any one of my friends and followers. It’s always nice to know more about those you only met online.
I also want to thank Ida for the definition. I’ve seen this award several times, and although I know it’s a German word, that was the extent of my knowledge. But now I know that it means lovely or favorite. I am honored Ida bestowed that award on me! And what a wonderful post she chose to do it in. For her A to Z Challenge, R was for Receive. I love how she describes receive –
“receive always made me feel I just had to stand still and accept what was being given to me, let them be generous, kind, caring – it is not a commitment or an obligation to give something in return, whether it’s unexpected or sought after you are being honoured and your efforts rewarded, just accept it with gratitude and without fuss.”
This has always been such a hard thing for me to do — accept without feeling obligated — yet I am willing to give everything about me and never expect anything in return. At the same time I received this award, I was also blessed to be a Thursday’s Child. My friend M. Andrew Paterson wrote about me for his “Inspired by” Thursday post.
It’s times like this that really make me feel like I mean something to someone. And I want to share with you my gratitude.
So, without further adieu… I will answer the 15 Questions Ida gave to me. If you want to find out more random facts about me, check out my other awards.
1) What is the nicest thing anyone ever said to you? “I love you” and “You matter”. Most times, I don’t really know I matter to much of anyone, despite my deep desire to make a difference for everyone in my life (RL or virtual) and then there are things like what Andrew posted, my son saying he enjoyed the little walk we took around the lake, my husband smiling (even if it’s brief), that really make my heart happy.
2) Something your parents taught you? Dad: The value of hard work and saving money. Wish he had taught me more, like how to invest in my future! I don’t get all that financial investment stuff. Mom: To eat 3 meals a day and not worry about things you cannot control. I wish my mom had taught me to cook!
3) Have you ever dreamed of celebrities or famous people? Not that I remember.
4) Do you have any quirks, rituals or superstitions? Toilet paper has to go on a certain way. The dishwasher has to be loaded a certain way. Certain tasks I like done a certain way and it gets me all anxious when it’s not done *MY* way. As for anything else, I really can’t think of anything off the top of my head.
5) What’s the most amazing thing you have seen in the sky? SR-71 landing at Langley AFB. My absolute favorite aircraft…next to the space shuttle, which I’ve also seen in the sky several times. But, alas, no more since Obama canceled our Shuttle program. Sad. Natural things: a Full Lunar Eclipse. A Full Solar eclipse..the best one was on top of The Zugspitz. The middle of summer and for 15 minutes, it snowed! Brilliant! Oh, and I’ve also seen several Meteor showers. When it’s clear enough, I make sure to wake my son and take him outside so he can see them too. Bucket list: Northern Lights.
6) What’s the craziest thing you have done with your hair? After donating my hair to the Locks of Love, I got a hair up my patooty and decided to go shorter than it was. BAD MOVE! I used to wear my hair like this when I was in my teens. I also wanted my hair all one color. It naturally have blond, red, brown, and black in it. And I am so sick of people telling me I need to bleach my hair because my roots are showing. If anyone knows me, they know everything about me is all natural. But it’s very frustrating to have this happen ALL.THE.TIME. I never went black before. So, I figured, why not. NEVER. EVER. EVER. Again. I keep this picture to remind me never to do it. EVER. AGAIN! (When I was a teen, I wanted to see what I’d look like with strawberry blond hair. Since my hair was already mostly blond, the blond parts came out ORANGE! UGH! Never again with that either!)
I hate this picture of me. I love the look on my son’s face! 
7) Have you ever seen a baby being born? Well, I was present when my son was born. But I was a little too preoccupied to “watch”. 
8) Have you ever been with someone when they died? Does a cat count? I was there when my MikeyKat crossed the Rainbow Bridge. It still hurts my heart today. And I’m really afraid of being present when a human dies, especially someone close to me. It would just stab my heart to pieces.
9) Have you ever had a strange experience that you just can’t explain? I’ve always been fascinated with ghostly haunts and such. When I lived in England, you’d have thought I’d had experienced *something* but no. It wasn’t until we moved to Florida. The house we rented had strange things happen. I didn’t see many of them, but my husband was home more than I was and he got to experience many more episodes than I. Our son was around 3 or 4 when he kept telling us he saw green stuff floating down from the ceiling above his crib. I saw a young girl, maybe 7 or so, dressed in a frilly night gown walk from my son’s bedroom door and disappear in the kitchen. Toys would be played with in the middle of the night (but I think that had to do with dying batteries). And then, one night we were home alone, and our son saw a man in a red cap. After rationalizing it, we think this was my Uncle who had passed a few years before come to “meet” the new addition to the family, since he died on his way to a hunting trip, and he always wore a red hunting cap.
10) Are you an excellent speller, bad speller, or thought you were good but use spell check a lot? I think I spell ok. But there are always words that trip me up in their proper use. But then there are days when my brain doesn’t work and D-O-G looks wrong. Those red squiggly lines really irk me and I *HAVE* to fix my mistakes before I can go on with whatever I’m typing.
11) Do you have/have had any pet(‘s), pick a favourite. I grew up with dogs. But, I’m not a dog person anymore. They require more work than a baby. I currently have 3 Scottish Fold kitties (two are oxymorons, since they have straight ears) Previously, I had 2 cats that traveled the world with us. MikeyKat will always be my favorite.
12) where’s 12? I’m missing a 12, here!
13) What was the last thing you said out loud? something that would warrant my mother washing my mouth out with soap.
14) Where are you sitting while writing this? at my desk, in my cube, at the day job.
15) What does your name/names mean? Jamie is a form of James (which means Supplanter, a usurper: one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another). WOW. Such joy that is! :/ Funny, though, James has a long history in the genealogy of my maiden name. Anyway…My whole life I’ve been mistaken for a male. I was bald until I was 2 and even when my mom and dad pierced my ears and dressed me in dresses, people would come up and say “awww what an adorable little boy.” It never stopped either. Growing up in England, where the spelling of my name was a boy’s name, people always assume. And people *STILL* assume that I’m male and address me as Mister, hence the reason I’ve adopted “LadyJai” as my name. There are a select few I allow, and enjoy having them call me, James or Jamison. <3 But not complete strangers. LOL
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