The Truth, I Swear

My sister talked me into posting “15 facts that people might not know” recently on my family facebook page.  The reactions ranged from surprise to confessions to fun. Emboldened, and as a little something different on this blog, I post them again here, along with a few photos (click to enlarge).  

1-I was born on a military base in Dover, Delaware.

2-When I was five, my mom, while pregnant, asked me to name my sister, which I did while picking flowers in the woods on Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany.

(pictured, Wendy, Germany, 1969)

3-I gave our mom three options: Dandelion, Edelweiss, and Heather.

(pictured, Mama brings Heather home from the hospital, Germany, 1972)

4-I had a pet squirrel named Fuzzy Wuzzy that I hand-fed from my bedroom window in Shalimar, Florida.

(pictured, our house, 16 Magnolia Drive, 1973-1977, in Shalimar, Florida, as it looks today; my bedroom window was on the 2nd floor, far left-)

5-Fuzzy Wuzzy was shot dead in 1975 by my best friend’s brother, using a bb gun. I’m still mad.

6-Chip Totten was my first boyfriend. We were seven.

(note: Chip commented that I later cornered him for a kiss beneath our 4th grade classroom table; however, having blocked that out years ago, I don’t recall it as a fact-)

(pictured, Mama/Mignon, Heather, Wendy/Dolores, and HAIR, during Mardi Gras, my senior year of high school, 1985)

8-As a teenager, my cousin Kelly gave me the pseudonym, “Dolores Pepper.” The name stuck, and I dated several guys well into my 20s who thought that was my name.

9-In the 1980s, my mom let me join her and her friends for Ladies Night at the Seagull and the Landing (both long-gone nightspots in Fort Walton Beach, Florida), provided I call her “Mignon.” If I slipped up, I had to leave.

10-I was once mistaken for Kim Basinger while buying a Christmas tree. The guy at the lot insisted I take the tree for free. I gave him an autograph.

11-During family gatherings, I sometimes call my husband, “Dad,” and my dad, “George.” Fortunately, alcohol is always involved.

(pictured, Heather, Dad and me, when Heather and I surprised our dad for his birthday with a double-renewal of our wedding vows during a 2005 pool party, New Orleans; the purpose was to get pictures with both of his daughters in their wedding dresses; riiiiiggghhhtttt….-)

12-After wearing them for months, I complained to George that the “R” is backwards in the “WR” earrings he designed. Turns out I was looking at them in the mirror.

13-I have so many Neil Diamond shirts that I can’t count them all. I would like a Neil Diamond hoodie, but I haven’t found one yet.

(note: before you start looking, the links are already pouring in, and I feel fairly sure I’ll find one under the tree this year-)

14-For years, I have highlighted my hair.

15-My two favorite words are “Aunt Wendy.”

Hope you enjoyed; next post, back to the arts!
Wendy

-pictured above, nephews Wyatt and William with Zoey; Tallahassee, Florida, October 2013; see also my sister Heather’s blog, Adventures of a BMX Mom, linked here–

-for the latest reviews of The Other Side of the Painting, a new Rodrigue book, visit here–

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