It’s been a few years since I played tag, but who knew? There’s a game of tag to be had even in the blogging world… Randomreasoning just tagged me (a game, not an award, just to be clear, and I’m about to invite YOU to play)…  -I’m always up for a diversion, so here goes!  The game comes with rules, as games tend to do:

1. Post the rules (check!)
2. Answer the 11 questions the tagger set for you in their post
3. Create 11 new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged
4. Tag eleven people & let them know

So here are the 11 questions posed by randomreasoning (with my thanks for including me in the game):

1. What happened on the best day of your life?

Waking up in my Husband’s arms, and both of us in God’s hands.  I get to have lots of Best Days.

2. What is your greatest talent?

A Perpetual Smile.

3. What have you done in your life that makes you the most proud?

I look at my kids and think to myself, “Holy shit, I’ve MADE PEOPLE!”  Tough to beat that. (And a relevant thought today, given that I first came face-to-face with my Hobbit-child eleven years ago on this day…)

4. What do you believe in that others might doubt the reality of?

Well…  GOD.  And connecting with God in a lot of different ways besides sitting in a church pew.  And thinking of God(dess?) in a number of ways besides the white-bearded guy of the old paintings…

5. If you could travel in time, when would you go?

When I was a kid, I was hooked on watching “Little House on the Prairie“–and one of my favorite games in my head was to pretend I had been transported to the present from pioneer times…  I’d imagine trying to navigate the things around me, figuring out what to do with a light-switch, or a faucet.  So I think (presuming I had a round-trip ticket) I’d enjoy a trip to Idaho’s homesteading days. I’d be interested to learn all the skills that enabled a homesteader to be entirely self-sufficient… And then I’d be happy to return and enjoy the running hot water of my bathtub!

6. What’s your favorite holiday and why?

Imbolc–a day for Light and New Beginnings… (See “Shining a Light Into the Dark Places“)

7. Anytime in your life that you would like to have a ‘do-over’? Explain in you can.

Yes and no–I’d wish I could un-do all the damage I’ve done with my alcoholism to the people who love me… And at the same time, I wouldn’t want to trade some of the gifts and blessings of Recovery, including my husband whom I met in Rehab.  We often joke that God must have had a plan (and clearly has a sense of humor!) because our lives never would have intersected if we hadn’t simultaneously crash-landed at our Low Points and ended up there at the same time…

8. What’s your favorite movie and why?

Lord of the Rings–with all the extra hours of “how-we-did-it” footage. It’s a story about Addiction, and one that comes with Hope. And director Peter Jackson is my story-telling IDOL for the way he crafted Tolkien’s messy book into an amazing, in-depth, authentic-feeling piece of story-telling Art.

9. If you could spend one day doing anything you wanted, what would it be?

I’d be at the helm of a sailboat in tropical waters, with my kiddos as crew, and Keoni whipping up something gourmet in the galley…

10. What are your views on social media?

That really depends on who’s using it, and how…  Clearly I’m a fan of blogging!  I enjoy the ways that sites like Facebook have helped me reconnect with people from my past, and I enjoy connections I’ve made with LinkedIn and Twitter (people for my future?)…

11. Have you ever broken the law and what did you do?  You needn’t answer if it will get you thrown in the pokey.

I’ve already put in my pokey-time, so it’s safe to answer: DUI a few years back. That’s my big one (and the one at which I got caught… which, all in all, is a good thing)…

The other one that comes to mind, about which I have no regrets, was when I was going to school on the Big Island of Hawai’i and drove with a few guys to the volcano at night.  We hiked out into forbidden territory, past the boundaries where the rangers had stopped us during the daytime, and watched up close as the molten lava flowed into the sea with all its hissing, roiling, glowing, steaming majesty.  Pele, goddess of the volcano, battling with her sister-goddess the sea, and growing the island.

And now…  Eleven questions for the next tag-ees to answer:

1. What’s your favorite bumper sticker?
2. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
3. What’s the kindest thing that a stranger has ever done for you?
4. What’s something you’re great at?
5. What’s something you’re terrible at?
6. Who’s your favorite superhero (and why)?
7. What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
8. What’s your least favorite Rule to follow? (Do you follow it?)
9. What’s the ring-tone on your phone?
10. What quirky habit are you willing to confess to?
11. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?  (Any resemblance to your life now?)

In the spirit of #8, I’m going to break the tag-rules and tag YOU, Dear Reader, rather than limiting the selection to a specific eleven people.  If you’re feeling playful enough to participate, I’ll look forward to your answers!