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1
My grown ass kids are wanting (and seriously planning) to buy a big plot of land together with their father and I and build houses on it together so we can all live in our own little 'village,' preferably somewhere that weed is legal.
TRUTH
Absolutely true. They’ve even been telling me lately that this had best NOT turn into something we all say we want to do, but then plans fall through. It’s mostly Paris @loliboofae and Kainan, though. More than anything, they really want to go off grid and then all live really close by each other, build our own homes and just live somewhat cooperatively. We’re a very close family and at the moment we have family nights every Friday night, because my planned once a month was just not often enough! In addition to that, Paris and her boyfriend have come back to live at home and the boys stop by a few times a week AND... well, we might as well be closer and save gas money. Plus, legal weed because it is the ONLY thing in the past 30 years that has remotely helped my horrible insomnia (and thus, literally feels like it would save my sanity, because never getting good sleep makes me turn into an irrational crazypants.
2
Bizarrely enough, living on a sailboat was the only time in my life that I didn't suffer from motion sickness at all, after a lifetime of serious motion sickness in cars.
Being on the sailboat was pretty much the only time that I actually vomited. I not only got horribly motion sick on traveling days, but I vomited. A LOT. Generally, for most of my life, I just got horrifically nauseated for hours and hours, but could never throw up (even when I was ill from a virus, I could rarely find relief by vomiting)... anyway, that’s gross, but the truth of it!
3
I always wanted to take dance or gymnastics as a child, but my mother never signed me up for classes because she thought I was too clumsy and that I'd hurt myself.
TRUTH
True. I asked her once when I was older why she’d never signed me up for gymnastics or dance when I wanted it so much and that was her reason (although in reality, it probably had far more to do with the fact that A. We moved all the damn time and B. We were always pretty broke when I was growing up.) I did get to play baseball in little league, but I really really sucked at it. I was horrible and pretty much hated all of the competitive group sports.
4
I went to 23 different elementary schools.
TRUTH
This is true (as far as I know, since it’s my mom who tells me this) because my father who was a functioning (but abusive) alcoholic moved us around a LOT. I suspect that he was/is bipolar. It makes sense. He would randomly make us move on impulse, sometimes every 6 months or more for odd reasons like, “The top floor apartment is $5.00 less a month, let’s move up there” or “I’m tired of this bullshit town, let’s move one town over” Needless to say, this was just one source of the upheaval in my life.
5
Nick Cassevetes called me a "Cool Mom" (and I hate being called a "cool mom")
TRUTH
Truth. We were on the set of a movie called “Yellow” that Abyni had a role in. Paris and I ended up being extras on the set during a few school scenes. Nick Cassevetes was on set during one of these scenes and we were all standing around for a while waiting when he came up to say hi and chat a bit. He looked at my middle daughter who was obviously not a typical ‘in the mold’ kid and talked for a bit. Then he gave me a high five and said, “Well, you must be a cool mom.” and I tried to not cringe, because I just hate the connotation of that phrase because typically a “cool mom” just lets her kids do whatever they want because she wants to appear ‘cool’ to them. My kids try to reassure me that I’m ‘cool’ but in a REAL way, not in a bad way. It still makes me cringe, though.
6
When my daughter came out as gay, she was SO laid back and casual about it, I wasn't sure if she was serious and had to go ask her later.
TRUTH
Absolutely true. We’re all very open in our household and she knew I wouldn’t care either way, but the day this happened, we were getting in the car to go to the mall. It was me and two of my daughters. One of them said something about this or that and I can not for the life of me remember what it was, but she replied with “well yeah, cuz I’m gay.” in a seemingly flippant way.
Later on it kind of nagged at me and I thought, ‘Oh no! What if I was supposed to react in some way or be more supportive? Or what if it was just… UGH.’ And I wasn’t sure, so I went and asked if she was coming out or if she had just been joking.
She said something like, “Well, I didn’t think anyone in our family would care, so I didn’t think that I needed to actually ‘come out’ about it, so I just said it.”
And I was like, “Okay, cool.” That was that.
7
In a particularly low point, I tried to overdose on ibuprofen in high school. At the hospital, the doctor told me that I couldn't kill myself with over the counter medications and only prescription pills would work. I left the hospital with a prescription for an anti-depressant that I could have overdosed on. I never took it because I was scared that I would actually O.D.
TRUTH
Sad but true. I don’t have a great history with doctors in any case, really, but this was just… really fucking awful. The attitude I got from the doctors at this point was absolutely… well, let’s just say that looking back on it, I am just blown away at the attitude I was greeted with in that emergency room. I suppose I can excuse some of it because I’m sure that working in an ER sucks, but no. It was awful. Period. And yes, I took home a prescription for Prozac.
I’m SO glad that I didn’t take it, either, because I did take it later at age 20 and it made me so suicidal that I ended up in a mental hospital on suicide watch for a couple of weeks. Apparently it just has that effect on some people and I was one of them.
8
I had all of my kids at home. The first one was in part because my doctor freaked out and literally screamed at me when I asked for copies of my records to appease my boyfriend (who was begging me to meet with a midwife and have our baby at home).
TRUTH
This is also true. I had all five of my kids at home and the last one was unassisted, since we moved out of state 2-3 weeks before she was born in a kiddie pool in my bedroom. I truly tried to consider a hospital birth on the last one, because our midwives moved away at that time, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it just because of that.
9
I'm writing a super kinky, explicit erotica story to publish as an ebook.
TRUTH
Yep… although I’m only 15,000 words in, I feel like I’m too focused on the sex aspect and need to have more plot going on. I mean, it’s not supposed to be outright porn… right? Maybe? I don’t know. It gets me fired up, so I know I’m doing something right anyway ;)
10
My boyfriend was the first person to figure out that I had dissociative identity disorder after about 6 months together when I was 22.
TRUTH
This one is true (and seriously a novel length story that I’ve actually already started writing, but since it involves parts of me that I wasn’t even aware of at the time, it’s a pretty impossible story to write! I suppose at some point I will just have to take all of the information that I do have, and stories from Patrick’s side of things and do the best I can with it.)
Once he discovered what was going on and I finally found a therapist who would take me and had experience with D.I.D. it became apparent that others had noticed these “odd quirks” of mine, but always excused it as thinking I was just drunk/on drugs/being weird on purpose kind of things.
This issue came up a few different times in my life since then, since it is the mind’s way of developing coping mechanisms, but it isn’t something that has been That significant (ie: me doing things/being awake without being aware of it as the me who is here right now) in my life again.
11
When I was a child, my brothers got a dog and named it after me. For years we got cards from the vet with my name on it and they thought it was hilarious.
TRUTH
This one is hilariously true. Of course in our childhood pets came and went a lot. We were never allowed to have inside pets and we lived on a big plot of land with a barn, so we usually just had strays that we would care for until they moved on. At some point I went away to camp for a week and my brothers got a dog. We didn’t have it long enough for me to even remember the dog itself, but I do remember going to get the mail later that year and there was a postcard from the vet reminding us that I needed to go in for my 6 month check up! I thought it was funny, even at the time. :)
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