Five Things

This weekend is the most glorious kind of all: FREE. No plans. No meetings. No work. Just freedom. And it will be our last for some time. While we have many exciting events and to-dos coming up, I am just exhausted and in need of some nothing. Can't we all relate? The dogs even got the memo and slept in until 9!

The lovely Kallah tagged me in a post where I have to tell five interesting, random things about myself that readers may not know about me . . . orrrr just . . . five things. I can't handle the pressure. Since the theme of this weekend is to r-e-l-a-x, we will just see what we come up with.  :) 

1. This one is easy. I was a huge tomboy as a kid. Exhibit A:

That's right, I played tackle football with the boys for two years in 4th and 5th grade. When I was nine, I scored my one and only touchdown. It was called "Theresa's Play" (creative!). My mom took me to Walmart afterwards and I could pick out whatever I wanted. I chose a forest green fleece pullover. Sign of the times.

2. Basically, what this means is that Catherine (of Bachelor fame) and I would be best friends. We both played tackle football when we were little, we're both Asian, and we both have two sabotaging sisters (j/k, Trish and Shannon). Most importantly, we are both terrible at making eye contact:

3. Luckily, I beat the odds and still found me a husband. Will and I met in college, as you know. But we actually had a couple classes together before we were formally introduced so we kind of knew each other from cutting baby pigs open together in Biology Lab and singing Nada Te Turbe with Sister Jane in Theology 201. (N.B. Will's Sister Jane impression is impeccable. Impeccable!) We were even super official Facebook friends and I maybe stalked him photos for hours at a time but that's neither here nor there.

Only slightly obsessed with our alma mater.

We weren't really introduced face-to-face until some good friends intervened. My roommate, Michelle, was dating Will's baseball teammate, T-Mac. The three of us were hanging out in our apartment and I was lamenting my singleness and listing all the qualities I wanted in a boyfrayn. T-Mac, animated as ever, literally leaps up and shouts, "You are talking some SERIOUS Will Brez!" (You have to picture this scene with T-Mac's trademark southern accent and maybe a hint of crazy in his eyes.) That Sunday evening, T-Mac and Michelle asked if I wanted a ride to student Mass. Of course I do! (which is really ridiculous because the basilica was---tops---a ten minute walk from our apartment, but I digress.) Who was awaiting me in the backseat of the car but Will himself? Pretty much from that point on we were seriously dating and we knew we were getting married yadda yadda changed my life forever. You know the rest.

4. I chose to go to law school, partly because I thought I'd be good at it but mostly because I wanted to be like my grandmother.

A little teary at grandma's surprise 80th.

She is a living saint! She went back to school with eleven kids to become a lawyer and eventually became a circuit court judge. My dad was tenth out of the eleven, which I think contributes a lot to his personality, and therefore mine, but I won't even get into that right now.

5. While we are on the topic of grandmothers, let's talk about my maternal grandmother. (I know these aren't really facts about me per se, but these ladies have influenced me greatly!) Yes, my other grandmother is also a living saint, but she only had six kids, so she gets less publicity. ;)

It's strange being in a family where none of us look alike.

She was born in California, a Japanese-American, and was detained in the Japanese internment during World War II. She and her family came out of internment with nothing; their business was burned to the ground, so they returned to Japan. Eventually, she met my grandfather who was stationed in Japan with the Army and they came back to America together (oh, that is another story!!!).

There you go! Hope you have a relaxing weekend!