A Friday Tenâ„¢ list just a bit early:
- From Grandma Tracey: an interest in publishing. Grandma Tracey wrote a history of Imperial Valley, where I grew up, and published a newspaper.
- From Grandma Sutton: a love of sweets. At least I think that’s where it came from. She gave us fresh-baked bread with butter and white sugar on it. I remember her loading up toast with lots of jam. She would take “half” the last slice of pie until there was a tiny sliver left.
- From my mother: a love of salty things.
- And high blood pressure.
- From my father: a bad temper.
- From both my grandfathers: an agrarian sensibility.
- From my parents: a sense of safety and of being loved.
- And a college education.
- And a need to be right (or is that a need not to be wrong?).
- From all my ancestors who just kept moving West: a sense of independence and self-reliance.
you are *so* lucky on #7.
Well, there was the year or more that my father and I didn’t speak after he found out I was gay. And the disinvition of my partner from my sister’s wedding.
But as a younger child, yes, I got a certain grounded feeling.