Sunday Stealing: The Hardest Meme Ever

This week’s meme comes from Kat at 3 Bedroom Bungalow.

The Hardest Meme Ever

1. What is the bravest thing that you feel you’ve ever done physically?

I don’t believe that I have ever done anything physical that was particularly brave. I have, like most people, faced some physical challenges, including retinal detachment, tears, and lattice degeneration, and endured the surgeries and treatments necessitated by those conditions. I have no choice other than to live with the aftermath on a daily basis. There is no alternative. I don’t think of that process as bravery in any sense. I just cope with the reality of the situation and am thankful each and every morning that I wake up and can see my surroundings. Has the experience changed me? Profoundly. I no longer take my eyesight — or, for that matter, any of my senses or physical abilities — for granted.

2. What is the bravest thing that you feel you’ve ever done emotionally?

I don’t view my own reaction to any challenge as brave. I was called to litigate Conservatorship of Wendland and could never have foreseen on that fateful day in 1995 that the case would not conclude for a full six years following a court trial, two appeals to the California Supreme Court, three to the Third District Court of Appeals, and intense media attention. I could not have known that the experience would leave me — and most of the other people involved in the case — physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and idealistically drained and forever scarred in a variety of ways.

3. What one talent do you wish you had that you don’t?

I have absolutely no artistic ability. I can’t even draw stick people, have no eye for composition, and virtually no artistic imagination.

4. If you had that talent what would you be doing with it?

Expressing myself through media other than music and writing.

5. We all have our reasons for blogging but what would be your ultimate goal for your blog or as a blogger?

To inspire thought and discourse. If someone reads an article here, closes the browser window, and discusses, and/or thinks and/or writes about the topic, I have attained my goal.

6. What advice would you give a new blogger?

Write about what matters to you. Don’t attempt to write for a specific audience or on topics that you think other people want to read about. Write from your unique and authentic perspective.

7. Name your favorite blogs.

In no particular order:

• Mimi Writes
• Writing in Faith
• Becca’s ByLine
• Everyone Needs Therapy
• Secondhand Smoke

. . . and many more.

8. You can trade lives with any one person for a month. Who would it be and why?



President-Elect Barack Obama. I would love to know that it feels like to be living what I perceive as a complicated mixture of elation, awe, inspiration, sense of responsibility, trepidation, fear . . . I share many of his values and ideals, voted for him, and support him as he prepares to assume leadership of the United States.

9. There’s a fire and your family is safe but you have the chance to save any one item from your house. What would it be and why?

I would not leave without my flute. It is my most valued possession.

10. You have the chance to go back in time and warn yourself before making a bad choice. What choice would it be and what would you tell yourself?

“Say ‘no.'”