Thank you Mary.....

I’ve been challenged by Mary, from Bead Fluff with the following challenge. I haven’t really done many of these before, some small ones, but this is really going to make me think. For those of you that know me personally, you know that I am a pretty even tempered person, I do blow, but I don’t think that’s bad, because then I don’t hold it in an dwell on it…...

Let’s see what I come up with:

List one has to do with 5 strengths you have, for example persistence, courage, friendliness, creativity.

1. I am a loyal friend (as Mary said); I still have many friends from my earlier years. I try not to let them slip through the cracks.
2. I am creative. In fact I'm very creative. If that is a talent, then I need to face it.
3. I am usually pretty patient (or am I persistent?). I’ll explain the same thing to the same person multiple times. At work, I deal mostly with persons from other cultures, countries and religions and our “norms” are not there “norms” – it’s imperative for them to understand that to get along with nurses, patients and techs, they may have to bend from what they know into slightly unfamiliar territory. I hope that I help them.
4. I am willing to try almost anything once, usually twice (the first time could just have been a bad experience and it might require a “do-over” to see if I really didn’t like it). My most recent experience was that I have said for years that I don’t like pea soup with ham. My mother didn’t like it, didn’t make it for the kids, I never tried it. At a ham joint two weeks ago, the waitress heard me talking about that (this place serves ham sandwiches, ham breakfast and soup – that’s it) and brought me a cup to try. It’s one of those foods with a really strong colour – kind of scarey… I learned that it’s really, pretty tasty.
5. I am a strong person in a crisis situation. I usually don’t fall apart when the S**t hits the fan. I buckle down and I do what needs to be done. I don’t often hit the panic button.

Now list 5 things you admire about yourself.

1. I believe that I have become a pretty decent artist with this medium that has reached out and grabbed me. It doesn’t define me, but is a huge part of who I am and what I have become in the last 12-13 years.
2. This is pretty close to what Mary said about being an ear to those around me. I listen.
3. I believe that I can make people relax around me. This may be a reason why my home has become a regular meeting place for my group of beaders. It might actually be because I have a huge dining room table, but I bought the table so that we could actually fit more people around it. The friends were coming over before that, and I like to believe it’s because it’s a relaxed, come as you are atmosphere.
4. I am extremely tolerant of religious values and cultures which are not what I was raised with. I can count Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and agnostics amongst my closest friends and will respect them completely. To this, I believe that my friends respect my beliefs (or lack there of) in return.
5. I love and I am loved.

Now list 5 of your greatest accomplishments in your life so far:

1. I married the perfect person for me. The fact that we connected through a singles ad still floors people.
2. I have been able to do a few things with my art – acceptance into Bead and Button (Feb 2007 and Aug 2008) Readers Gallery and the Downriver Council for the Arts (Nov 2007) gallery showing.
3. I have adopted and given a good life to two cats and two dogs. I wasn’t able to have kids, and this is what I ended up with. I’m happy with it.
4. I’ve taken a high school education, with some college and made a career out of what could just be a “job”. I am a Residency Program Coordinator for one of the largest Internal Medicine residency programs in the country. I work with training physicians who work around the country and around the world.
5. I had the courage to divorce my first husband, even though family tried to convince me to do otherwise. I walked away from him, a guaranteed retirement, health benefits, etc. Even when my mom passed away shortly after we separated, I didn’t go back to him.

List at least 10 other Accomplishments (okay, I changed it to 10):

1. I have a great relationship with my younger brother – and he actually likes my husband.
2. Growing old is something that I can’t change and I am working to embrace it. I may not like it, but the alternative sucks.
3. I can swear in multiple languages. I don’t know if it’s an accomplishment, but I can do it.
4. I've taught myself to sew.
5. I volunteer with the Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild in the Detroit area. I am currently the webmaster for the guild (which reminds me I still need to work on that one page).
6. I volunteer on a website that prepares foreign doctors on how to apply and interview for residency positions in the United States. Why do we need foreign doctors? There are many areas of the country where Americans don’t want to work and people need doctors.
7. I don't take offense quickly.
8. I'm hardly ever late.
9. I'm easily amused.

List 10 thing you do to treat or reward yourself, that don't include food or cost anything.

1. I curl in the bed with three dogs all trying to show that they love me.
2. I can see the beauty in a sunset; either in my backyard or on a trip.
3. Reading a new book, with one of the dogs in my lap.
4. I bake cookies for those I love.
5. Chatting with an old friend on the phone.
6. Watching the baby birds that are just learning to fly.
7. Counting the birds of prey that I see while in the car.
8. Sipping a cup of coffee on the patio in the morning on a summer day.
9. Chatting with new neighbors over the fence.
10. “Now Voyager” over and over and over.

List 10 things you could do to help someone else and make yourself feel good about yourself.

1. Give money to a friend who was unemployed for 10 months and not expect it back.
2. Give something I've made to someone who has said they would like to have one of my pieces of work.
3. Cook Korean food for my husband when he gets a taste for it.
4. Learn more than the bad words in a language.
5. Invite friends over.
6. LISTEN.
7. LISTEN.
8. LISTEN.
9. LISTEN.
10. LISTEN. Okay, I know that writing listen multiple times is a cop-out, but sometimes it’s more important to listen than it is to speak. Politicians should learn this.