Sunday Stealing: Ty and Logan

Another fun round of Sunday Stealing questions from our hostess, Bev. Click here to join in the fun.

Excerpted from For Ty and Logan

1. Where did your name come from?  It depends on where you look and what country of origin is given. I know in the Greek it means "Resurrection." My mom told me once that she wanted to name me Anastasia, but someone convinced her that would be a horrible name to stick a kid with and suggested a shorter, more American name would be better.

2. Where were you born?  In a hospital that no longer exists.

3. What as your house like, growing up?  We moved a good bit and lived in an apartment, an older 2-story, a couple of Cape Cod's, and a mid-century ranch. The settings were the country, a couple of small towns, the suburbs, and a wildlife preserve.

4. What was your childhood bedroom like? I can remember 3 that were favorites. I had a pretty big room with a picture window at the house in the wildlife preserve. When we moved there it was the early 70's and colonial was a popular decorating style (and the bicentennial was coming up). My room was done in red, white and blue. I can't remember all of it, but I do remember the bedspread was white with the seal of the U.S. on it in blue. In my pre-teen years I was into purple and my room had purple carpet and the bedspread and curtains were ombre ruffles. My teenage bedroom had what I thought was a cool, sophisticated and modern style and was done in black, brown, and white. All of my rooms were large and had the same basic elements....double bed, dresser, desk, bookshelves, seating (a captain's bench when I was younger and a huge purple bean bag when I got older).

5. Did you travel as a child? Where?  No. My parents weren't really the vacation types. 

6. Write about your grandparents? My adopted dad's mother was much older since Dad was 16 years older than Mom and she had a major stroke when I was 10. She spent the next 11 years in a nursing home, paralyzed on one side and unable to speak. I didn't get to know her all that well and wasn't particularly close to her. On the other hand I was extremely close to my mom's parents. I wrote about them here.

7. Who taught you how to drive?  My husband. My dad refused to do it. He said I had to take driver's education at school, which would have been fine except that they cancelled it my senior year. I didn't need to drive in college. So, it fell to my husband when we were dating.

8. When did you first leave home?  Right after I turned 18 and headed to college. I married my husband at 20.

9. What did your parents do for work?  Dad worked for the Pennsylvania Game Commission until he took a job as the manager of a private wildlife preserve owned by the Mellon family. When we left there, he was a supervisor at a foam rubber plant until he retired. Mom was a librarian and left that to be a mail carrier because it paid a lot more.

10. Who inspired you as you matured?  Journalists. I envisioned myself growing up to be a globetrotting super reporter.

11. What was the best part of your 20s?  Getting married and moving to Florida. It was all a grand adventure!

12. What as the best part of your 30s?  Just raising my kids and being a family, though I worked in youth ministry in my 30's and that was a close second.

13. Where is the most fascinating place you’ve visited?  The basement hallways of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. All the boxes stacked up, things under tarps...it was like that final scene in Indiana Jones. So much mysterious stuff! What I wouldn't have given for a peek into those crates!

14. What is your favorite family story?  Oh my, I have no idea. There are lots of stories, but to choose a favorite....

15. What was your most memorable birthday?  That's easy. My 7th birthday was the most memorable. We were at my paternal grandmother's for the weekend so I wasn't expecting anything. I was completely surprised by the party they threw outside in Grandma's yard with balloons hanging from all the trees. It was also the year I got my lime green and white special edition Schwinn Stingray. I loooooved that bike!

16. What was your favorite food as a child?  My Nana's fried chicken.