The first three

This week's blog-stalking assignment is to list three things I love and three things I hate. It's going to be hard to trim down the list, as there are many things I love and more than a few things I like to say I hate.

Three things I love:

1. My mother's handwriting. Back in the day they actually taught penmanship in school, Mom learned the Palmer Method of handwriting. So her handwriting is nice and even, properly slanted, just loopy enough. But above and beyond the fact that she has nice handwriting - something about it just says "mom" to me than almost anything else about her.

I remember in college one time I was cleaning up my dorm room and I found a piece of paper with her writing on it and it almost made me cry. I don't even know why, I guess I was homesick or something. But seriously, it was just a list of things I should pack or something generic like that. She's good about writing me letters, and I really appreciate that. Actually, she hasn't written to me in a while, but I think she's still writing to my nephew (in boot camp) several times a week and that's fine.

2. I love this picture of me. My nephew took it when he was all of 3 years old (I believe he was sitting on his tricycle), and it's seriously one of the best pictures I have of myself. How cute was I? Even with the big dorky glasses. =) It was actually winter when this picture was taken. I can tell because I'm wearing jeans. Were it summer, I'd be in a swimsuit & towel.
But man... what I wouldn't give to go back in time and have a nice long chat with my 17 year old self. We'd start with a good long hour lecture on the topic of "You're not fat!" starting with "No, your calves are not 'too big', your thighs are no where near 'flabby', and that bit of your stomach that rolls over the top of your jeans when you sit down is called 'skin' and it's supposed to be there." and ending with a trip to the mall to get a smokin' hot bikini to wear the next time someone wants to go to the beach!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I could say soooo much more about what was going on when this picture was taken. That smile hides a lot of teen angst, high school drama, and emotional turmoil. It was taken just after I broke up with HS boyfriend, but just before I got back together with him. So if I could continue that conversation with my 17 year old self, I would admonish her to run screaming in the opposite direction if anyone should even suggest that the ex-boyfriend 'wasn't that bad'.

I don't know.... I love the picture, I love that my little nephew took it because he was playing with my mom's camera, and I love my 17 year old self for being able to smile through the traumas of adolescence.


3. I love my country.

I am a very patriotic person. I tear up when I hear the National Anthem, I love singing all of our other folk songs like America the Beautiful. I love my country because of it's diversity of people, ideas, climate, geography... there's really something for everyone. And I love my country despite the truly horrible things we've done, like slavery, or sending American citizens of Japanese ancestry to internment camps during WW2. Because eventually we do sort it out and try to make things right. I believe in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. I feel very honored to get to participate in that government, and I take my civic responsibilities seriously (most of the time... I'll admit not voting in some of the local elections when I haven't had time to figure out what the issues were). I consider jury duty a privilege.

Of course, one of the things I love best about my country is Portland. It's so beautiful here. We have all the benefits of being a city, a good local music scene, lots of art galleries & a museum that's small but gets some terrific visiting exhibits, the public transportation is great (even if Tri-met cannot always be exactly on time) and it's just got a cool vibe here. The other great thing is that you don't have to go very far to get away from city life. The mountains and the coast are each just a couple hours away, not to mention all the parks and hiking trails in the city itself.

So those are my three loves. As for the three things I hate - stay tuned, I've got quite a bit to say on that subject as well.