I recently got tagged by a good friend in this post and have decided to play along. Having been tagged, I have to write down five things about myself that no-one knows and then tag three more blogger friends. in my case, i’m going with five things that many people *might not* know about me.

it took me a while to think of these and i feel a bit weird writing them, but here goes…

i’ve struggled with mental illness. when i was 17 i had a manic episode that was followed up with about six months of depression. this happened again between the ages of 30ish to 32ish. some would say that i definitely have manic depression, luckily for me, my father and my therapists believed that i don’t have to live with a stigma and could get back on my feet properly. i just needed to learn how how to take care of myself (mentally and physically). the hardest thing about this was hurting people close to me. the best thing was that i now know how (and do) to take care of myself.

i ran the boston marathon in the year 2000. i have barely run since, but plan to start soon.

without help from a friend’s family, i may not have gone to college. a good friend knew that i had no money for college, talked to his parents and they offered to give me a “full ride” to the university of maryland. i didn’t take them up on that much generosity, but did accept tuition for a community college. found a job during my freshman year and paid the rest of the way after second year. thank you Washburn family!

i may have saved a woman’s life. while riding the bus to work one morning, a woman had a seizure, fell out of her chair and stopped breathing. her friend tried giving her mouth to mouth but needed help. i took a red cross class about 5 months earlier (thank you AAHSA!) and realized i needed to help out. after a few chest compressions, she came to. whoa! one of the scariest moments of my life that may have been very sad if i hadn’t taken that class. if you ever have the chance, take one.

i was raised by a family of artists. my dad and step-mom are photographers; my mom and grandmother are painters; my grandfather was a story-teller and my big sister is a poet, painter, baker, chef, gardener etc. yes, i feel very lucky.

tagging three friends:

SassyKelly: one of my oldest friends, since 1993!
Susan: friend and former boss that taught me a bunch about web design
NoopyBrenda: new friend – we took “sabbaticals” at the same time to learn spanish in Xela