5 Things You Didn't Know

I've been tagged.

I didn't even know one could be tagged, but I'm now It. Erin has tagged me and I get to answer the questionnaire. Well, that's a way to get a blogger to blog.

This is tough. I already spill my guts in paper and in person to strangers often enough to consider my life an open book (must keep in mind those half a million column readers!) The trick is to figure out what I can spill that is still spillable and not private. Well, here goes:

5 Things You May Not Know About Stephanie

1. I crave quietness and solitude. Lots of it. I am actually only an extrovert if I get plenty of introvert time. That means about an hour or so spent on prayer and reflection each day, and regular doses of reading or other techniques that let me escape and recharge.
2. My parents were convinced I was going to be born a boy--I'm not sure why! My name would have been Orion Patrick Fosnight. When I came out quite obviously a girl, there was a scramble for the birth certificate. Dad won and I am Stephanie Renee, not Renee Stephanie. My brother, coincidentally, is Peter Orion Fosnight, Peter having knocked Orion out of the top spot by the time he came along 14 months later.
3. Speaking of birth, I spent the first hours of my life being whisked to St. Paul Children's Hospital and the next 9 days in the neonatal intensive care unit. Again, I'm not quite sure why I was so sick or even what was wrong with me. They did a spinal tap and I had a fever and a slow heart rate (I think) and one pock. It was either measles or chicken pox but I've never managed to get chicken pox. And I had a virus and they were concerned about hepatitis and I ended up with an infection. Apparently I was near death. But I came out fine. (Oh, my dad's here now reading over my shoulder and he says they just wanted to make sure I was OK. He also said it was so fun for the nurses to see a big Gerber baby in the middle of these preemies and that I got lots of love, even though it wasn't the location they planned).
4. I think Gwen Stefani and Shakira are awesome!!! I love to sing and dance and rock out to their music, no matter how shallow or immoral the lyrics. But they are also both very talented musicians.
5. My dog Auriga (who lives at home in Arizona with my parents, where I am right now) is nearing 13 and has become even more crippled so she hobbles slowly (as opposed to hobbling quickly). She is also going blind in one eye and is temporarily deaf from a double ear infection. And, due to a thyroid condition, all of the hair fell out of her tail. But she is still a wonderful, loving sheltie (photo coming soon) and I adore her! And she takes lots of pleasure in life and the doc says she's in good health, otherwise. So she can't walk, see, hear or be proud of her tail. She can still bark! And eat!
6. Bonus fact: A forebear named Laura Secord ran 20 miles in the snow in southern Ontario to warn the British that the Americans were coming during the War of 1812, leading the British to a British/Canadian victory. I actually just learned that surprising fact this instant, thanks to my still-reading-over-the-shoulder father.

And now I tag Kathy and Shanel! (I tried to put in the links to their sites but am hopeless at html code. They kept going wrong).