June 21, 2007

Would I Lie to You?

No, not yet! 

It’s true.  I have a scar on my left palm that I got when I dropped a bottle of seven up and tried to pick up the shards of glass.

I was four years old when it happened.  It was back in the old days when soda came in long-necked glass bottles, usually a six pack, and my grandmother always returned the empties to the store for her $0.20 credit.

As my mother tells the story, it was a hot summer day and she opened a bottle of the fizzy soda and gave me a plastic cup of half 7-Up and half water.  When the bottle empty, apparently I insisted on putting it into the cardboard case. 

Unfortunately I dropped the bottle and it shattered all over the kitchen floor.  My mother went to get the broom and when she turned around I had a shard of glass in my hand and blood all over my palm. 

I cut my palm in a way that had my skin hanging open and my mom panicked.  She grabbed me by the arm, hoisted me onto the kitchen counter and stuck my hand under the sink to rinse it with cold water. 

I didn’t get any stitches, but my mother put a band aid on my palm and applied pressure to the wound.  Turns out it healed nicely, but I have a scar in the shape of a very crooked “J” on my palm.  Or maybe it’s a backwards “7″. 

Congrats to Karen, Nadine and Leslie!  Your answers are correct.  I’m starting to think you know me better than my husband!

June 20, 2007

It’s True, I Really Am a Lefty

No, I’m not referring to politics.  I’m talking about statement number three.

Yes, my nickname as a little girl was Lefty.

When I broke my arm, I had to wear a cast for six weeks.  My “Uncle” J.D. and “Aunts” Jeannie and Linda decided to start calling me Lefty.  They figured I would have to use my left arm and hand while my injury healed, and they loved to tease that my arm may never work again.  Those meanies!

I hated being called Lefty in the beginning.  I remember yelling, “No!  My right arm will heal!  I will be all better!  I promise!”

But the nickname stuck and to this very day, when I see J.D., Jeannie and Linda they address me as Lefty.  I honestly believe they’ve forgotten my name is Dana.

Congrats to Nadine and Leslie!  Your answers are correct! 

You can still play the game!  Post your answers to questions 4 thru 10 in the comments!  Playing at your blog?  Send me your link!

June 18, 2007

Trick Question

The second revelation… 

2.  When I was 17, I had a party while my parents were on vacation and I only got busted because my little brother was snooping in my room and found a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels under the bed.

This is half-true and half-false, so if you answered either way, you are still right.

My parents and my younger siblings went on vacation to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and the Corn Palace, the summer of 1996. I had to stay behind and keep an eye on my father’s business.

He is a tavern owner and my job was to clean the bar and stock the coolers, as well as handle the money, deposits and cash register balancing.  It was a big responsibilty, one that my father had entrusted me with many times before. 

On this occasion I decided to have a drinking party with a few friends.  Nothing big.  Just 4 of my best girl pals and 3 guy friends.  Little did I know that my “friends” would bring their “friends” and before I knew it, there were 15 people in my house drinking my parents beer, after they drank all of the stuff they brought of course.

After the party was over, I did my best to clean the house, restock the Miller Lite my parents would definitely know was missing and hide any leftover bottles of Jack Daniels under the bed.

I thought I got away with everything.  My family came home and my parents were astonished to see the house was much cleaner than when they left. 

It wasn’t more than twenty minutes after their arrival that our neighbor across the street came over and told my dad that someone has driven through their yard the night before.  Our neighbor’s house was on the corner, so it was very possible that someone missed the road and drove into their lawn.

I was busted.  My father demanded the truth and I told him everything.  The disappointment on his face was too much to bear.   I broke down and cried, begged for forgiveness and to my surprise he said, “If you wanted to have a party, all you had to do was ask.”

“What?” I said, wiping tears away.

“We would have allowed you to have a party if we were home, as long as the other kids’ parents were aware and gave permission….so that we could have designated drivers or people stay overnight.” 

My little brother, who was only five years old, came out of my room with a bottle of Jack Daniels as my dad was talking to me.  My father was more surprised when he saw that. 

“Hard liquor?” he asked.  “I thought this was just a beer party?  Kids these days are hardcore it seems.”

I was grounded for two months, basically the rest of the summer, couldn’t go anywhere without permission and was not allowed to drive my car for two weeks.  It was torture.  I learned a very valuable lesson:  have parties at other kids’ houses!

So, technically the neighbor busted me, but my brother did find that bottle of booze.  Karen, Nadine and Leslie, you are all correct!

There’s still time to play!  You can answer questions 3 thru 10 in the comments and send me your link if you’re playing this game on your blog!

June 15, 2007

The First Truth

Are you ready for me to reveal the correct answer to statement number one of yesterday’s game?  Okay! 

1.  I broke my right arm because I was copying Mary Lou Retton while watching the 1984 Olympics on television.

This is true. 

I was five years old and I loved gymnastics.  I begged my mother to let me join a gymnastics class at our local YMCA, but we couldn’t afford it.  The closest I came to actually doing cartwheels, back flips and splits was in my kindergarten gym class. 

The day I broke my arm is one of my most vivid memories of my childhood.  In fact, I barely remember anything else.  It was the summer Olympics of 1984 and my mother let me watch Mary Lou Retton perform her routine on the vault (or vault horse) as long as I promised not to jump around too much and wake my baby brother.  (In my memories, I don’t even recall where my little brother Nathan was sleeping.  Crib or play pen probably).

I told my mother I would be careful and she went into the kitchen to have coffee with my Aunt Mary who was visiting.  I got the most brilliant idea to take the chairs from my children’s table and chairs playset, and put the seats facing each other to make a vault horse.  My next brillian move was to straddle the seats and then try to stand up on them, just like Mary Lou was doing on the television.

The next thing I remember was tipping back wards and my arm caught caught in the back of the chair.  I screamed, began to cry and threw up, in that very order.  My mother, only one room away came flying out of the kitchen.  I recall she verbally thanked the Heavens that my Aunt Mary was there to watch Nathan so she could take me to the emergency room.

My father was a semi-truck driver and at the time of my injury was away on a delivery.  He came home the next day while I was in the hospital and I was crying because I thought I was going to get in trouble for my “horse play”.

I had to stay overnight, alone, after the surgery.  My mother couldn’t bring Nathan with her to stay the night because of a stupid hospital rule and my father had to go back to work. 

A very nice nurse named Cammie, or maybe it was Tammy, stayed in my room all night so I wouldn’t be afraid and she bought me a Barbie doll the next day.  It was Nurse Barbie and I remember telling my mother I wanted to be a nurse because Cammie/Tammy was so nice.

I had 42 stitches in my arm and had to wear a cast for six weeks.  It was one long, itchy summer.  The scar from the surgery was the length of my of my arm at the age of five and I had two pins put in my elbow to set the break.  After the cast was removed, I had 4 weeks of physical therapy because of where I broke the elbow/arm and it took a very long time to extend my arm as well as touch my right shoulder.  Even now, my elbow does not extend completely, I have a slight bend in my elbow due to the pins that held it in place.

Congratulations to Karen (the only player so far) for getting this answer correct!

There’s still time to play!  I’ll be out of town this weekend, but you can answer questions 2 through 10 in the comments, and I’ll post the second revelation on Monday!

If you’d like to play at your blog, post your link in the comments, please!