What Do Five Words Say About You?

Five words can help you get to know someone.

Recently I received 5 words from Betty, at A Glimpse Into Midlife. It's all part of a meme, that you can do too, if you want. Here's how it works. Betty was given 5 words from another blogger and she did a post about the words she was given. She then offered to give 5 words to someone else. I thought it would be fun, so now I'm going to post on the five words she gave me. If you want to join in, tell me in the comments and I'll send you your own five words!

Here are my five words...

1. Fall:

I'm making an executive decision and assuming "Fall" is not meant to describe the number of times I've fallen flat on my derriere, because THAT, my friends, would make for a very long post! I am one of those girls who'll try just about anything and as a result, SPLAT has my name written all over it.

No, I'm assuming it's "Fall" as in Autumn, which is my very favorite time of the year. Growing up in the Midwest, I have vivid memories of collecting orange and gold leaves and pressing them between wax paper to enjoy for months to come. When I was older and lived in New York, I loved the 8 hour drive back to Ohio in the Fall-- mostly across Pennsylvania, with more than 450 miles of spectacular Fall colors. Now, living in California for the past 24 years, I truly miss everything about Fall. The trees in our area do not turn colors, there are no golden miles of freeway and all the great things that go with Fall like wool sweaters, hot cider and raking leaves-- Not happening here. So to make up for it, every October, I fill my home with a lot of these.....

I'll let you decide if I'm taking about the pumpkins or kids.

2. Gifts:

I have long since thought "the Gift is for the giver", not the other way around. Sure it's nice to receive a gift for a special occasion, or for no occasion at all, but I like the giving part of Gifts far more then the getting-- I enjoy selecting something "just right" for a person I care about and wrapping it beautifully. I also enjoy giving the Gift of "myself"-- my help and support to a loved one who could use a second pair of hands or a boost.

That said, I've received two Gifts in my life that hold a special place in my heart. The first you'll know, if you are a regular reader, is of course my Godson. When I unwrapped him the very first time-- I yi yi, I'm crying already just thinking about it so I'll leave it at that.

The second Gift was from my mother. For my 40th birthday, she wrote every day in a journal for three months telling me stories about being her daughter. It is one of the all time most loving and generous gifts I've ever received. It's a gift I've been trying to write/post about for some time but it always leaves me so choked up I've yet to finish. Stay tuned, hopefully I'll be able to complete the post soon.

3. Retirement:

My whole adult life I dreamed of Retiring and "enjoying the fruits of my labor". Ha! I thought I had it all figure out but I forgot one important thing. What the heck would I do with myself after I walked away from a big portion of my identity. I started working when I was 13 years old and I was, and continue to be, very proud of my ability to "take care of myself". But when I hit the breaks, stopped the endless work days involved with owning my own business, and was able to kick back and sleep in, I suddenly could not sleep past 7am and had nothing to kick back and actually DO that gave me any sense of accomplishment to identify myself with. Blogging has been a big boost but I'm still on the hunt for the "ideal Retirement" with balance and fulfillment.

4. Stepchildren: I do not blog about my two stepdaughters, but I will say their father and I met when they were college students. They are beautiful, smart and accomplished women, each with a strong sense of family, generous hearts and the kind of people you'd love to have as your friend or neighbor.

5. Passion:

Hmmm. That's a word that can go in many different directions. I think I'll tell you about my Passion for food. I love to cook and entertain. I am forever clipping recipes and own way too many cookbooks but it seems I just can't get enough.

My parents and grandmother taught me how to make comfort food (Translation: pot roasts, gravy and biscuits) then in my 20s, my aunt introduced me to the use of fresh herbs and spices. (Translation: I was 24 years old before I realized garlic didn't just come in a shaker with salt by Lawry's!)

Over the years my food Passion has lead me to many cooking classes, but I would love to spend long vacations in Tuscany, Provence and Israel taking classes to learn the local ways of preparing a feast.

I could be very content having an endless stream of company around the dining room table enjoying foods from around the world. (A couple of full time dishwashers would be nice too.) But as I type, I realize ultimately my Passion is not really about food, it's about sharing a lovely meal with family and friends, and especially seeing my husband smiling at the opposite end of our dining room table. He's really my true Passion.

Those are my five words. Mention in your comment if you'd like me to pass on five new words to you. In the meantime....

"Gift" was my favorite word. What does it mean to you?

Welcome to The Fifty Factor - Joanna