Interview #1 - Questions from Sheila

I'm having an AMAZING time on my trip to Eastern Canada!  It's been so full of goodness, I hardly know what to tell you. I'll write all about it at some point, but right now, in the middle of it, I'm getting so much enjoyment out of the people I'm spending time with, the roads I'm traveling down, the events I'm participating in (the art show was WONDERFUL!), and the sights I'm seeing that I have little time or energy for blogging after all is said and done. Right now it's after 11:00, and after 5 hours of driving (from New Brunswick to Nova Scotia), a delicious meal, and several glasses of wine with my hosts, I'm definitely ready for bed. But before I sleep, I thought I'd post one of the posts I prepared before I left home - answers to some interview questions.

Thanks to Sheila for providing the questions! Sheila blogs over at Studio Lakeside. One of my favourite things at her blog is "Ta-da Tuesday" where she invites people to celebrate the things they have accomplished, even if they are just small, seemingly insignificant things.

1) It being so near Christmas, everyone's thinking of giving and I wonder if you had JUST ONE absolutely PERFECT gift to be given - what would it be and who would you give it to?

Hmmm... that's a tough one. Being involved in social justice and having traveled in lots of developing countries, my altruistic response would be to give economic and political stability to my friend Pugeni in Zimbabwe, or to give freedom and justice and stable lives to the young girls I met in India who'd been rescued from sex slavery. But let's be a little less "Miss America Pageant" and say... I would LOVE to give my husband and daughters a month long, expense paid trip to an interesting and exotic place.  Maybe Brazil or Costa Rica. I've done so much traveling lately, and every time I go, my daughters ask "WHEN are you going to take US on a plane?" and always I have to say "someday, when we can afford it." I wish I could afford it RIGHT NOW! And while I'm at it, I'd bring along my extended family because I happen to like them a whole lot!
2) And in the impossible realm, I know, if you were granted one - well, okay, two - 'Do Overs', one you could change (and what would you change and why) and one that was just so fabulous the first time you'd like a repeat, what would they be?

I have a really tough time answering this question.  I've thought about it quite a bit since Sheila asked it.  The reason it's tough is that I tend to be a future thinker/dreamer (I'm told that's because of my "N" in my MBTI) and I don't spend a lot of time dwelling in the past. Sure there are some choices I'd make completely differently now than I did then, but that's because I'm older and wiser and have a different way of seeing the world and my place in it. The thing is - I have very few regrets and I like it that way. Even though some experiences were pretty shitty, each experience I've had has molded me and strengthened me and I can't imagine my life otherwise. Perhaps I would have chosen not to spend 2 years in a Bible college that didn't value women as much as I'd like (I had to be vice president in the student council because only a male could be president), but that experience enriched my life despite some of the ways it wouldn't fit the person I am now. Perhaps I wouldn't have spent as many years working for the federal government, but I did a lot of learning there, and really grew as a leader, and that was all worthwhile. I probably would have taken art classes earlier in life, but then maybe I wouldn't have appreciated them as much as I do now.  So I can't honestly say what I would do over.

As for a repeat? Almost any of the trips I've taken. Oh to spend a few more days at the magical resort near the Serengetti in Tanzania! Or to get the chance to hang out with my sister on a beach in the Mediterranean again! Or one more early morning kayak trip with my brother in the Pacific Ocean near Thetis Island! Oh... and another romantic weekend with my husband in Quebec City would be delightful! Oops... I was supposed to name just one... Maybe the very first time I flew over the ocean and the whole world opened up to me!