Chloe is Rockford’s oldest sister. The first time I met her actually was at the Chinese restaurant. Chloe was also intimidating, but in a different way. I jokingly call her Chloe Poppins. She might not actually be “practically perfect in every way,” but she does have her stuff together. Her house is beautifully decorated, and her holiday dinners all look (and taste) like they’re straight out of the pages of Southern Living.

I have learned to love her despite that.

(No, really, she is also very very nice and is thus rather easy to like.)

What was your first job? How old were you, and how long did you work there? Did you like it?

My first job, that wasn’t working for the parents, was probably the summer I worked for Nabil, the creepy Egyptian. He sold perfume oils and knock-off papyrus art. I believe I was 16 that summer, but you should check with Rockford. I have tried to block out most of it. If I had known at the time what “sexual harassment” was, I would have left my post sooner. I think the only reason I didn’t run screaming for the door was the fact that my dad was working next door. There is a very real possibility that I just narrowly escaped being kidnapped to a middle eastern country, to what end we can only imagine.

The following summer was only slightly better. I worked for a month at the local Kmart, but working in a retail store was not for me. I finished out that summer working at the Act I Video store in the same strip-mall. It was much, much less intense — and Rockford was able to tag along and watch videos from time to time.

How did your grandparents meet?

My dad’s parents, Tom and Betty, lived in a town that was roughly a mile long. There were three churches in town, a Methodist, a Presbyterian and a Baptist. In 1938, my grandmother was attending the Methodist Church with her family, but all of her friends were attending the Presbyterian Church (which apparently had a very happening youth group). One of her friends encouraged her to go to the youth group one evening during the summer before her freshman year in high school. She went and met a ton of folks that night, Tom being one of them. He was two and half years older but had just graduated from high school. He was going to college in the fall. She didn’t date him then, but she did go out several times with the boy he eventually roomed with at IU. That only lasted a few months and ended in March ’39, and according to her they were never “going steady.” I mean really, she was a freshman.

She continued to see Tom on and off over the next four years, but it wasn’t until she finished her freshman year at Indiana Central College that they started dating regularly. She took a job at Eli Lilly that summer between her Freshman and Sophomore years, and I guess you could say they were “going steady” by then. They were married in August of 1943, and he finished Dental School in 1944.

What do you envision yourself doing in 10 years?

Thought provoking question. The good news is that I am even thinking I will be doing anything at all. 🙂 Little Pip will be 14 years old, so I will still be teaching High School. (I know that much.) #1 will be 23 years old, so I should have just attended the first successful college graduation of one of my students. Until that happens, I think I will be wondering if I have overlooked any important aspect of their education (in all its many facets).

I can tell you some things I would like to do within the next ten years. I would like to visit the Grand Canyon. I would like to run in (and finish) a half marathon. I’m not quite crazy enough to do a whole marathon. I would like to go back to Maine. I’d like to take a sailboat tour of the Virgin Islands. I would like to have a big Thanksgiving Family Reunion at a huge Mountain House or Lodge … somewhere fun… maybe Lake Tahoe. I would like to write a book, and I would like to finish the afghan project I planned last year.

What is the worst advice you’ve ever been given?

“Go to Savannah for St. Patrick’s Day.”

Who would star as you in the movie of your life? Who would play your significant other?

Me, maybe Sela Ward. My significant other, Tim Allen.

What’s in your purse right now?

my new iPhone :-), wallet made from recycled plastic, 1 lifesaver, a tide “mini” stick, 1 Benedryl and 4 Sudafed, pictures of the kids, key to Mark’s car, 17 store “cards” keyfobs, two library card tags, one coupon for a boy’s haircut, one bottle of Excedrin Migraine, a comb, a USB Flash Drive, two Sharpies (one pink & one black), two check books,Trident, a Pink Pen, an emergency flashlight, a nail file, my sunglasses, kleenex, two more pens, a Talbot’s coupon, one individual “WetOne”, someone’s homework, my keys and my “to do” list.