Jozien has interviewed me!

I read Jozien's interview, and it was a wonderful post. You can read it too over at "Keeper of Wild Places." She tagged anyone else who was willing to be interviewed by her to volunteer, and so I volunteered. My interview follows. Would you like me to interview you? C'mon, it's fun! If you do, follow the instructions at the end. And, without further ado, here is my interview by Jozien:

Jozien: What brings a smile to your face?

Sue: My boys can make me smile faster than anything else... especially when they are being goofy. Nick and Frank just came in and Nick was explaining a special hand shake that a guy in school was showing him. He was so funny! They are both in a really great mood, since it's Friday. They make my mood better, too. I love those guys!

Jozien: Raising children,what is important to you?

Sue: I think the first most important thing for me, when the boys were little, was that they not feel uncertain about things. I didn't want them to feel worried about anything. I wanted them to have a strong sense of love and security as a foundation to start from, and to know they could depend on me. (The down side of this will be if I can't kick them out of the nest because they are TOO dependent! I guess that is something we will find out when the time comes!)

Another extremely important thing for me is that they be nice to other people. I wanted them to be very empathetic, and understand that you can never judge a person by what you see. I wanted them to be helpful to anyone who needed them, and to care about other people.

The third most important thing was that I wanted them to learn that learning is important. I wanted them to value school and always learn everything that they can, but not stress out about tests and things.

I have always made a wish whenever I see the first star in the sky. I always wish for the same thing: happiness. Although I can remember that at first, when I was little, I would wish for a dog or a pony. Then later, as I got a little older, I thought about wishing for a hundred more wishes, because then I could have EVERYTHING. But after a while, I decided that it didn't matter what I had, if I didn't have happiness, it wouldn't be good. So happiness was the only important wish. And that is what I always wish for my children.

Jozien: What do you like about the spot where you are blogging, most often?

Sue: The spot where I am blogging... this spot in my house is very warm, and the light comes in through the window nicely in the middle of the afternoon, and you can see the sun set, and the family watches tv or listens to the stereo here.

This spot in my neighborhood is a lovely place, the best house on the street, with my yard opening up to the school yard, in a peaceful, quiet little side of town.

This spot in my state is very urban and busy but also very friendly, a melting pot of different cultures, and close to a wonderfully huge and fast paced city.

This spot in my country is near many places of employment, a place where there are no earthquakes or tornadoes or landslides... usually reasonable weather, but still a nice change of seasons.

This spot in the world is a place of opportunity, where people try hard to live by high-minded values and ideals of equality and opportunity and freedoms.

This spot in the cosmos is the only place where we have found intelligent life so far, and we are all in this spot together.

Jozien: What is normal in your life now, but you had never heard of when growing up(besides computers)?

Sue: Well, computers are the first thing, of course, but besides computers -- we never had cell phones; when the kids needed to come in for dinner, the mom would yell out the door, "Come and eat!" and the kids would come running. When the kids left there homework home, they would pay the price for forgetting it, and then remember the next time. When I broke down in my car, I learned how to fix what broke, and I learned to walk to a pay phone and call for a ride, and basically I learned how to take care of things myself. I think it is a HUGE problem for the teens today to be so constantly in touch with their parents that they never make their own decisions. They aren't learning to be independent.

Jozien: What is your favorite 'wild' place or experience?

Sue: Many people will know this... KMSR is my favorite "wild" place, although compared to the wild places you see, Jozien, it's almost suburban. KMSR is the boy scout camp that we have gone to since my boys were little. It's not too far from here -- more than an hour, but less than two -- and it's beautiful. It is a safe place for boys to run wild for a weekend or a week, and be free in nature. The stars at night are clear so far from the city. The trees and woods are full of wild things, like wild grapes, and blue berries, and skunks, racoons, and even bears. I've seen more bugs at KMSR when I've turned on a lamp in the woods in the evening than I could even count. The pine trees are pitchy and full of sticky sap. At it's heart there is a lake with fish to catch, with cattails and spring peepers, and with salamanders that hatch in the spring along the shore. It's a place where all of the boys -- mine, and the scouts I've known since they were little -- have grown up as friends, learning about fires and mud and hiking and wildlife and cooking and knives and axes and thunderstorms and compasses. (Gee, I really want to go there right now! I miss it!)



Thanks for the interview, Jozien! I hope you liked reading it... sorry it was so long.

Here are the instructions if you wish to be interviewed by me:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me".

2. I will respond by e-mailing you five questions (I get to pick the questions)

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I will post a list of those who have agreed to an interview so everyone can follow along Now it's my turn to interview any other bloggers who would like to be interviewed by me. :-) I'm going to keep a list up here of the names and blogs of every brave soul who volunteers, so we all can follow along. Please check out their blogs to see the wonderful things they have created!