Interview Time

Carrie over at Life on a Backroad recently had another reader submit five questions to her for an 'interview' type of post. I thought it would be fun to play along so Carrie sent me 5 questions to answer. If any of you would like to participate, you can see the "rules of the game" at the bottom of this post. A fun way to get a little glimpse into our lives somewhat beyond the blog...
Here we go!

1. How did you & Mike meet?
I think we have kind of a great story. I'll try to keep it succinct because it could be a long story!
When I was in high school I was in the marching band with a dude named Estel. He was a year older than me & friends with my sister first. I always had a blast with Estel & knew he had a brother in my class but I never met him. We went to a large public school & Estel's brother wasn't in band so our paths never crossed.
After college I came home & started working. Estel & Beth had gone through nursing school together so they were still good friends. Beth was married by this time & we were all working but we would still get together about once a week for cook outs, dinner & a movie, etc. Every once in a while Mike would come along with Estel for these gatherings. I liked him right away. He's a quiet guy, very kind, athletic, & super funny when he wants to be. But he wasn't around all the time & I didn't know him super well.
Fast forward to the summer of 2002. We decided that Beth, Brennan, Caleb, Estel, Mike & I would go on our version of a family vacation. We went to Lake Cumberland in Kentucky for a week. We had a super fun time & I think that's when I really started to feel like Mike was my friend & not just Estel's brother. We would hang out upon occasion, even once or twice just the two of us.
Estel got really interested in bike riding & I did, too. We spent some time riding bikes & Mike decided to join us. This was the summer of 2007. Estel got a job that involved a big commute so he wasn't around as often but Mike & I would still ride a couple of times a week. We usually left from his house & ended up back there. We would get to talking & then he would ask if I wanted to go grab dinner somewhere, etc. We eased into dating so fluidly that I had to ask him if that was what was going on. We had "The Talk" & if you went to Northland you know just what I mean by "The Talk". Funny thing is, Mike didn't go to Northland so he didn't know we needed to have "The Talk". After that discussion was over & I hadn't felt awkward or weird I knew that I could end up marrying him. And I did!
I promise, I really did try to keep that short...

2. How did you start running? Was it hard to get motivated at first?
This is a great question & hopefully Janel is reading this because she asked me a similar question on my last running post.
I started running shortly after I graduated from Northland. I have been a chub-a-lump my whole life & when I came home from school I was frustrated with the state of my physical fitness. My schedule was so light compared to college life; working just meant an eight hour workday & no homework or projects for the evening so I found I had time to be more active.
I began walking briskly on a regular basis (at least four times a week). Beth had taken a jogging class in college & she was running some & she talked about how she just really loved it. So one day I was by myself at the track walking & I just decided to try to run one lap. I was able to run one mile without stopping & I haven't looked back since. At first it was very easy to stay motivated because I had never been able to do such a difficult thing before. And I'm a big time charter. I would write down every time I ran, where I ran, & for how long. Looking back on that record is very motivating for me.
*Janel, I'll answer your other questions in a separate post coming soon!

3. What was your favorite class at Northland?
This is a tough question! I think I am going to have to say that my favorite class was probably The Life of David. It was taught by Mr. Janke & it was a small group of maybe 7 students all together. At first I was extremely intimidated because I was the only girl in the class. Mr. Janke is a big tease & he let me have it several times but I discovered that it wasn't all that bad. He did such an excellent job of pulling together the different experiences of David's life & making application that was so relevant to my life. Some of those applications still surface in my mind occasionally. It was just a very thought-provoking class.

4. What is your favorite old movie?
I have thought about this question long & hard. The truth is, I don't watch many movies & I really haven't seen a lot of the old classics. But one I have seen many times is "Little Women". The version where Katherine Hepburn plays the role of Josephine.
I was introduced to the story of "Little Women" at a young age by my great Aunt Phyllis. She was a wonderful eccentric lady & she did not approve of the names that my parents had chosen. The names did not match our personalities, she said. So she renamed us. I was renamed 'Josephine' because I reminded her so of Jo from "Little Women". Shortly before her death I went to visit her & she had no idea who I was when she was told that Mary Ann had come to visit. I told her my name was Josephine & she knew who I was right away. For that reason I have always loved "Little Women".

5. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
This is a GREAT question! I have been blessed to have enjoyed the opportunity to travel a little more some people. Every time I go somewhere new, I find that my wanderlust is not quenched at all. However, my husband is a homebody. And he has taught me to love being rooted. I'm grateful for that, but I do dream now & again about flying off somewhere new...
So, I would have to say that if I could go anywhere, I would sign up for The Amazing Race. I would let them decide where all I would get to travel. I love the whole premise of that show - a worldwide scavenger hunt! I'd probably croak out on the first or second leg, but maybe, just maybe I'd make it farther than that. Beth would be my ultimate travel companion & I think we would be able to get through it without any major fussing. We got that worked out of our systems when we were in junior high & we fought around the clock. I would hope that the show would take us to India & Africa. Both places are fascinating to me for a whole bunch of reasons that would take too much time to post.

Carrie, thank you so much for the 'interview'! I really enjoyed thinking through my answers. This is probably the longest post I have ever written. I wanted to add some pics but ran out of time :-)

If you want to play along:
1 - Leave a comment with your blog URL, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your blog with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.