I've Been Tagged

My good friend and fellow blogger,

Mr. Bagel

has tagged me with a meme:

Here's how it works:

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.

The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

8 things you didn't know about Elaine:

So here goes ........

1. I was born during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The last thing my mother remembers hearing my father and a neighbor of ours discussing, just before they came in to wheel her down to surgery (I was also very stubborn even at birth, my mother had to have a C-section), was that there might not be a tomorrow, but then I arrived, at exactly 5 minutes until midnight, and everything got better !!

2. When I was about eight years old, my father promised me that if I would catch a skunk (some folks here-abouts call them poll-cats), he would take it to the vet for me and have it de-scented, so I could keep it as a pet.
So, I went looking and found one, and I caught it. I managed somehow to get it home, (touting it by it's tail) without being bitten, (but, it sprayed me numerous times on the way to the house). I placed it inside an old rabbit pen that I had, and went to tell my father. He was, to say the least, shocked !!
I didn't get my pet though. Somehow it escaped (I thought), from the cage I had it in. I have spent most of my life believing that a skunk could escape through very small holes. It wasn't until recently, that my mother told me the truth about the skunk. My father had lifted the lid and let it go (using a pole about ten feet long) !! I kept my end of our deal, but he had not !! It was probably for the best though, I had to take several bathes in tomato juice before anyone could stand to come near me !!

3. When I was about eleven, I piloted my first plane. It was a small single engine plane, and I was with my cousin, (a professional pilot). He asked if I would like to take the controls, and I said, "Sure" !! I followed his instructions and we flew for about an hour, needless to say, he took the controls when we landed, but it was so exciting and I loved it !!

4. I know it's frowned upon, but I actually met, and married, my best friend when I was only fifteen. We have been happily married now for almost thirty years. We have three grown children, two boys, and our daughter (the baby) now 21.
Although I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, our early marriage worked out great for us. Not only are our children grown, but our two sons have given us four grandchildren between them, (our daughter is still single and about to graduate college next spring), while I still have the energy to keep-up with them !!

5. I began public speaking when I was only ten, by 18, I had given a speech before our governor and his cabinet. It was a spur of the moment thing and had I had the time to get nervous, I'm certain I would have, but it happened so suddenly, that I never had time to think about it. I opened with a joke and before I knew it, I had given an impromptu speech and had received a standing ovation. Just goes to show what you can do when your put on the spot.

6. In 2004, our middle child, Daniel, was in a terrible accident. It happened when he and his older brother, Gerry, and baby sister, Sarah, had gotten together and gone swimming, at the lake. After several hours of fun and swimming, Daniel suddenly cramped-up and disappeared beneath the surface. His brother tried to get to him in time, but could not. Daniel was under water for between 15 and twenty minutes (in warm summer waters, not frigid), before they found him and pulled him out.
He was blue and not breathing. His brother began CPR (Gerry was a certified EMT), the park ranger arrived with a defibrillator , and soon after the ambulance arrived. They had to use the defibrillator twice on the beach and again in the ambulance on the way to the nearest hospital, where he was put on life support and then airlifted by helicopter, to the nearest trauma intensive care unit.
They did not believe he would survive at all. The doctors told us he could not survive off of the respirator, and that he would remain in a "continuous state of vegetative coma" and if he survived would need to be cared for in a hospital and later nursing facility for the remainder of his life. He was nineteen at the time of the accident. They also told us that his personality and any awareness of his surroundings, as well as his memory, his ability to communicate, to walk, or even to swallow were gone permanently, but we refused to except this.
We trusted G-D and never gave up the hope that G-D would totally heel our son, and (to make a much longer story short), Daniel is back to his former sweet loveable, active, intelligent, and opinionated self. He retained all his memory and personality, and is able to not only walk again, but run, not only talk again, but never stops talking (he gets that from his mother), not only to swallow, but eats like a one man army.
I share this as often as I have the opportunity, to encourage others never to lose hope in G-D. We got our son back, and there just aren't words sufficient to express what that meant to us both !! 2004 was an incredible year for us !!

7. In 2005, my mother had a heart attack, and had to undergo a quadruple by-pass. She came through it with flying colors, and absolutely amazed me with her courage and strength !!

8. In 2006, our oldest son was involved in a head-on collision, and was nearly killed. He was airlifted to our nearest trauma unit, where he remained in intensive care, in a coma for a week, and then he was kept another three weeks in intensive care before undergoing numerous surgeries on his hip, his legs, and his feet.
He had to learn to walk again, and was in rehabilitation for his hips and legs for an additional year, but again, G-D brought him through !! We've had a few difficult moments over the past three years, but I wouldn't trade them for anything, because I am more convinced than ever that nothing is to big for G-D !!

Well that's probably far more than you ever wanted to know about me, so now I'll move on to the "8" people I have chosen to tag next !!

They are:

A Simple Jew

Treppenwitz

Oleh Musings

JoshuaPundit

Hear, O Israel

Busy Wolf

Baleboosteh

The American Israeli Patriot