My 7 Things

On his blog, Nathan listed 7 things his readers probably didn't know about him. And then he suggested other bloggers do the same on their blogs. So here goes. I'll try to match his format as closely as I can.

1. When I was born I had 7 living grandmothers. My parents' mothers; my mom's step-mother; 3 great-grandmothers and a step-great-grandmother. Plus I had 5 grandfathers: my parents' dads and 3 great-grandfathers. That's a total of 12.

2. As a child in a military family I went to 8 public schools in 3 states in 12 years, including 3 high schools. And my best count has me living in 13 different residences in 4 states plus the District of Columbia my first 17 years. (All that moving around and having to make new friends and readjust really warped me...oh, wait, that's my last post. Sorry.)

3. The last time I was in the hospital as a patient was when I was six. And that was my second surgery. Well, except for the time I was stepping off the ladder on to the roof and the ladder kicked out from under me. An ambulance ride later and after some x-rays (a couple of broken ribs and a bruised kidney) I was back home. I had also broken a finger and a collar bone by the time I was 5.

3. I got a dog when I was 4 and she lived until my senior year of college. Had she made it a few more months she would have watched me go out the door my first day of kindergarten and come home from receiving my college degree.

4. Most of my adult life I've served in vocational ministry, the last 17 years as a pastor of the same church. My dad recently retired from pastoring. But I preached my first sermon before he preached his. I was 16. He was still in the USMC. Before becoming a pastor again in 1991 I worked on such great construction projects as the Nags Head Inn, Tanger Outlet Mall, the Washington Baum Bridge, the Comfort Inn in Kill Devil Hills, First Flight Elementary School and the Regional Medical Center in Kitty Hawk, among others. Ask me sometime about how that roof drain on the north side of the Nags Head Inn got there. (Just don't tell Gail about it.)

5. I'm the oldest of 5 siblings. Four brothers and a sister. All four brothers are musically talented, (OK, three of us pretend to be and Scott really is). My sister can play the radio (if there's a country station) and she lost the bucket for carrying the tune. I once played guitar and sang to thousands (that's right) on the beach at Ft. Myers Beach, FL on Memorial Day. A long time ago in a galaxy far away.

6. Nathan's hair is a carbon copy of mine when I was his age. (Enjoy it, Nate. It starts turning gray and turning loose at 30.)

7. If I'm buying, I won't eat at Applebees in Nags Head. I like their food, but I prefer to eat it the same day I ordered it. And I don't see why Californians are so crazy about In and Out Burgers. IMHO Carl's Jr. is way better.