it is all too easy to question his grip on reality, but being a little delusional wasn't necessarily a disadvantage for a gentleman turned pirate

1 What is the one thing you would change about your family gatherings? 

     more sharing about the family history. Rather than focusing conversation on current, day-to-day activities or the future, it would be great to occasionally share stories of the past. Who were the relatives that they interacted with, who they liked to be around, who were particularly interesting or funny or smart or successful or silly or ambitious or good with animals? What were the family secrets that didn't really need to be kept secret? Who traveled, served in the military, did something great (or notably not-great)? I would love to hear all that stuff now, while we still can.

 

2 What’s the best vacation you’ve ever taken with the family? 

    My family of origin is not big on "vacationing" as an event, and more often took day trips to visit family or—rarely—on excursions around the area where I grew up. Every few years we would go to

visit my uncle and family in the Flatland. My uncle was 'a successful businessman', the stereotypical sort who drove off to work every morning in suit & tie, briefcase in hand, and came home eight hours later looking as spiffy and unruffled as ever, to have a quick dinner (and wait thirty minutes) before slipping into the backyard pool with the kids. The pool was a marvel, both practically (a large, in-ground rectangle with diving board) and figuratively (none of the rest of the family had that kind of disposable income!). 

    The summer between my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I made that trek alone with my parents. It was the first time that both my siblings were of a mind to stay home and permitted by our parents to do so. Let me tell you, a driving trip as the sole kid was far different from the previous ones as "the kid who sits in the middle" and gets punched in the kidneys from both sides, blamed for everything, and in all ways tortured. It was relaxing, fun, definitely a different way to spend a week than our usual quiet lives. I felt very grown up. 

 

3 What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve done on a work trip? 

     I've not had the sort of work trip that this prompt presupposes. As one might imagine, library work trips are pretty sedate, at least by comparison to other industries. I did a couple of trips while at the financial institution but they were both solo and terribly low-key. Although this is hardly adventurous, really: I set out alone from my hotel during the longer work trip, just to see what I could see. Ended up touring an art museum with an incredible glass installation, and taking loads of pictures in a park. Wish I'd done a lot more of that and a whole lot less of the program that had brought me there.

 

4 What’s the one dish you wish your family would make more often? 

    roast beast, which is a beef roast cooked in a pressure cooker until fork-tender, with mashed potatoes and gravy from the drippings. It's absolutely my favorite meal of all time.

 

5 Who in the office would you trust to handle a major project with you?

     the work crush (let's call him Blackbeard). Quiet, thorough and steady, while still being fast, amiable, and irreverent. We have worked on a few major projects, in fact just finishing one yesterday (as I write this). It was bid to take 7 days and we finished in 3.5. We don't get extra pay for early completion, but it sure makes us look good to the client. 

    Anyway, Blackbeard and I have worked together on and off for a year, and I expect to continue as long as he's in this field. He's got a background that makes him good at a few different things, so I can imagine him moving to a different career before too long.

 

6 Have you ever re-gifted a present from a family member? 

    not since my marriage, and even then it was an in-law, not a blood relative. My family gives quality, if somewhat uninspired, presents. My in-laws gave weird, ill-suited, heavily meaningful gifts that made me want to ask if they actually knew me at all.

 

7 What is the one thing you would stand in line for an hour to get? 

    there is no physical item that I need badly enough to stand in line for an hour. Would I do that for an experience? Maybe. There have been some moments in my life I'd stand in line for now, for sure. None of them are "things," though.  

 

8 What’s the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into, not involving your family? 

    there have been a few times that I've been so frustrated or overwhelmed that I just sat down and cried. When my plan to go back to school hit a (financial) wall. When I found a bug in my (first solo) apartment that surpassed my ability to control my gag-reflex just from looking at it. When I got very, very lost on my first trip to visit my then-fiancee. When I was living alone, a long way from family, and came down with the flu (and maybe bronchitis as well). All those situations taught or reminded me that I'm essentially responsible for myself, with no one there to bail me out or make decisions for me or even to care for me when I'm sick. I've got to be able to handle that stuff, or die trying. 

 

[from here, divided and adapted; the title quotation is by Angus Konstam, from Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate]