Five Question Friday...This is a GOOD one!

It's that time again...Five Question Friday.

I haven't had the pleasure of joining in on the fun in quite some time,

but the muscle relaxers and pain killers have given me a temporary moment of less than 10 on the pain scale...thus allowing me to write this post!

(Turns out my vacation left me injured... the plane hit the runway too hard and too fast and I get to enjoy a torn trapezius muscle along with a possible concussion and whiplash! LUCKY ME!)

So, this weeks questions are really fun and good...

and brought back some great memories!

1. What was the most productive thing you have done this week?Making a doctor's appointment with my primary doctor, scheduling my physical therapy and allowing my shoulder to get the rest it needs to begin to heal.

Hopefully, no surgery will be needed!

2. Enjoying the winter or ready for spring?So ready for spring!!

Though I hate the horrible and usually unbearable summers here that follow,

I am ready for the newness of spring....

pastel colors, hearing the birds outside my window in the morning, seeing my rose garden take life, enjoying the wildflowers that decorate Texas highways.

This will be my first Spring with out Mom, so it signifies a new beginning for me as well.

I am still transitioning into my new normal, becoming who I am, a woman, a mother and wife.

And I am doing this all without her.

For so long, my whole life up to that point, I was her baby and I knew I never had to do things on my own. I knew she was always there to hold me hand, encourage me, love me, take over if things got too overwhelming.

Learning to live without her has been unbearable at times.

So this Spring is a fresh start for me...for us as a family.

3. Are you an introvert or extrovert? Is your spouse the same as you?I am definitely more of an introvert. I have never sought out to be the center of attention.

I would much rather stay behind, quietly observing my surroundings and venture out when it feels safe.

My husband...oh my husband...he IS the life of the party.

He is not prone to dancing on tables, breaking glasses, telling the most offensive jokes...having everyone in stitches from laughing so hard.

Put it this way....

if he's going out alone, I've been known to shave pictures and words on his back to ensure his clothes stay one.

It's crazy but true!

4. Would you rather go without music or television for 1 year?A year without television absolutely.

I hardly ever watch it. I watched it more this past week, being home injured. than I probably have in a few months. Some days I don' t even turn it on.

Between 10 hr work days, homeschooling, my university courses and trying to run my home, television is often the last thing on my mind. It's usually always depressing, sad news anyway.

I'd much rather grab a magazine or book, turn Esperanza Spalding on soft and low and drift away.5. Have you ever been truly scared of someone?Oh my goodness yes...

Two people..

Chicken George and Leonard

Chicken George (who knows how he got that name) was a man that would walk up and down the streets in my little town where I used to live.

He never spoke to anyone. No one spoke to him.

He had a crazy look in his eyes.

When Chicken George came a'walking...

the kids went a'running.

And I did just that.

I remember playing school on my front porch. I saw Chicken George walking down the street...I dropped my chalk, dropped my books, ran inside the house and locked the door.

He was THAT scary!

But even scarier was Leonard...

When  I was little  my mother was married to a man named Leonard. They separated over time but he still "loved" me, I guess.

Anyway, when my Mom left he threatened her that one day he would find me. He would take me away and she would never see me again.

He told her, I'll be there when you least expect it. I'll get her and she'll be gone.

This resonated the deepest fear in me during my entire childhood.

I didn't know this man, only the horrible stories told about him from my Mom and siblings.

I couldn't imagine life without my mom. It just didn't seem like a possibility.

......WELL.....

one day when I was about 13, we were in Wal-Mart. I rarely ventured far from my mother's side, even at that age, that fear set still in me.

I went off on my own, to look at what? I don't know.

But I know that man with curly hair, those menacing, crazy eyes and that awkward ill fitting hat was following me, aisle by aisle.

As I walked faster, so did he.

I started a jog..so did he...grinning the whole time.

I ran through the store to the front desk, crying, telling them he was chasing me and had threatened to kidnap me before.

He looked me in the eyes, gave me the nastiest laugh and ran out.

I never saw him again.

I never forgot that moment.

He passed away a few years ago, and only then did I feel some sort of relief.

However, that fear has never completely left.

I still make my girls, ages 17 & 12, be no more than an arm length away from me even now.

How many other times had he seen me but never had the opportunity to take action?

What would have happened if we were closer to the exit and not farther back in the store?

These thoughts still enter my mind at times.