There’s one of those memes going around on Facebook right now where a friend gives you a number and you post that many things about yourself that most people don’t know. I love these. I love learning things about people that just don’t come up in everyday conversation – pet peeves, secret talents, childhood memories that stuck with you. It’s awesome.

Yesterday, two friends gave me numbers after I liked their posts. That’s when I realized that, as someone who has been blogging since before Al Gore was born, there’s really not anything you guys don’t already know.

I’ve covered my deepest fears (the dentist, salad), my weirdest summer job (butter girl), assorted things about the place I grew up (Maine), and all the ridiculous things I tried in my 20s to make my life work (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, now on special for just $3.99!)

As I wrestled with this, I realized that not much has changed about me since I wrote those things. But lots of things have changed about life. So I’m amending the meme just a bit, to be 5 or 7 Things That Have Surprised Me recently. Here we go:

1. A family member I hadn’t see or talked to in 13 years tracked me down online by Googling “Trish, Maine.” It has been so awesome to be back in touch with her.

2. Friends surprised us recently with an act of stupendous generosity. I can’t get over it (and still don’t entirely believe it’s real.) I’m inspired and grateful.

3. I’m REALLY sad that Friday Night Lights didn’t continue forever. We just watched all the seasons, and I care about those characters way more than is rational. I get a little heartbroken whenever I see one of them in some other context and am forced to admit that these are actors, and that Matt & Julie aren’t living in Chicago, finishing school and planning their wedding.

4. We’re packing to move. The more stuff I hide in boxes, the better the rooms in our place look. I think I might be becoming a minimalist. Which is not like me at all.

5. I’m not jealous of authors who are more successful than I am anymore. This wasn’t a big problem before. It was just something I was aware of, floating inside of me, that I chalked up to an occupational hazard. But now, for whatever reason, it’s gone. It feels really good to be super excited about different books and not wish I had written them.

6. We stopped going to church about a year ago and it’s been a pretty good thing for us. Weekends where you have two full days off are kind of nice :)  We’ll go back soon, I think. I miss it. But it’s been healthy to realize that all the stuff written about how if you’re not always in community, always serving, always using your talents for building the church, your faith will slip away…are just opinions.

7. A couple of weeks ago, I went to two gatherings of friends from our old church. It was amazing to realize how those years together knit us into a family, and how that has not changed. We’re scattered all over now, like a bunch of cousins who grew up in the same town & then spread out. But our roots are the same, and that makes us “for” each other in a way I hadn’t considered. It was wonderful.

Okay, there is my attempt at the meme. Even with the change, this took me 2 hours of thinking. In the time I wrote this post, I also took THAT DOG to the groomer and back, packed 4 boxes of stuff, and wrote a book review.  Which tells me that I need to find a way to be much more interesting between now & the next time this meme comes around!

Happy Weekend All :)