In the Middle of the Wednesday Hodgepodge

It's time for the Wednesday Hodgepodge again so I'm linking up with Joyce @ From This Side of the Pond.

1. August 12th is National Middle Child Day...are you a middle child? If not, where in your family do you fall in terms of birth order? Do you hold true to the typical characteristics of oldest-middle-youngest-only child? (a quick list can be found here) Elaborate.  No, I am an only child and I sort of resemble their description. I am still more comfortable with older adults than people my own age...though that's getting to be less and less the older I get. My husband on the other hand is the exact middle child of 7 and he is the classic forgotten kid and sadly it isn't all his perception of things.

2. Tell us about a time you felt like (or you actually were) in the middle of nowhere.  I would probably have to say that was the first time I went on a mission trip to the Navajo reservation. We went to a camp that was so far out in the mountains that the people who took us there weren't even sure if we were in New Mexico or Arizona. There was NOTHING out there but us.

3. What's something you're smack in the middle of currently?  Well, I'm not quite smack in the middle, but I'm in it. I'm getting very serious about losing weight. I'm seeing a doctor specially trained in weight loss matters, trying to learn and follow a basically Keto diet, combine that with 16-hour fasting and exercise, and easing my way into a drug therapy that is supposed to help. Monday I felt like I was on top of the world. Yesterday I didn't feel so good. Today remains to be seen. I've been told Keto can make some people feel sick until their bodies hit ketosis. Maybe that's me?

4. What's a food you love to eat that has something delicious in the middle?  Custard filled donuts.

5. Share a memory from your middle school days, or junior high if that's what your school dubbed kids somewhere between grades 6-8.  The sharpest memory from that time is also the saddest. On Labor Day weekend 1978 a local church was celebrating its annual festival. Excitement and attendance was running high because for something special a helicopter was going to drop numbered ping pong balls into the crowd. The numbers corresponded with prizes. At the appointed time the crowd gathered, packing in tightly. The helicopter came into sight and began to fly over the crowd. Suddenly it was caught in an updraft and plunged into the crowd. Eight people died and 18 or more were injured. One of the dead was a teacher at the jr. high. Two were classmates and good friends of mine. In fact, they'd asked me to go with them, but it was one town over and my parents said no to taking me. It changed the town and all of us kids.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  There isn't much going on this week, but Saturday is my mom's and my birthday. I am hoping the weather cooperates so Tim and I can cross the border into Ohio to go to the Shaker Woods craft festival.