For Lindsey

So two months ago my friend Lindsey "tagged" me with one of those "divulge five things about yourself that no one knows". Why has it taken me so long to respond? Well there are a few reasons -

1) most secrets are kept for one of the following reasons - no one needs to know, no one wants to know, or no one should know.

2) I am an open book ... some might even call me an over-sharer - I share pretty much anything and thus I don't have much to share for things like this that would be considered "divulging".

But for Lindsey, whom I have not seen for almost a year now, I will play along (although I am pretty sure she knows all of the things I could think of to say).

DISCLAIMER: I am long winded when telling stories. But you probably already knew this if you have ever read my blog. Sorry ahead of time.

So lets start way back:

1) When I was little my older sister and I were feeding the ducks at the Heritage Park pond. In an attempt to have a duck eat from the palm of my hand (I was soooo close), I started to lose my balance and in the classic cartoon exaggeration of trying to maintain your balance by moving your arms in spastic circles, I fell in the duck pond. In a sheer stroke of luck or some sort of help from the universe I was still wearing my bathing suit under my clothes from swimming earlier in the day. But of course I still cried. Not because I was six and it was the edge of a nasty algae lined pond full of green water - no not at all ... I cried because I was next to a sign that said NO SWIMMING with a big read international NO sign ... and I was scared I would get in trouble because the park people might think that I had jumped in to go for a swim. My family called me Duck Girl for years after that - I HATED it (hey - maybe it was some sort of foreshadowing with this whole UO Ducks thing now??? hmmm this is very therapeutic)!

2) Again, when I was a little girl, my family was on a road trip from our home in California all the way to Arkansas (crazy I know). Somewhere in between CA and OK (we never made it to Arkansas), who knows what state, I had to go to the bathroom like you would not believe. Like soooo bad. So bad. I had to pee. I was under the age of 10. My mom was driving for that leg of the trip and we were in the middle of NO WHERE and thus there was no place to stop. I mean there were abandoned gas stations, that is how middle of no where we were. We must have been in Kansas because it was so flat. And my mom pulls over and wants me to pee next to the car tire ... squatting, out in the open, with my brothers, dad, and sister in the car - RIGHT THERE. Ok, so I have never had to pee so bad before or since - but my bladder got all shy - I couldn't pee! In a fit of frustration my mom begged me to just relax and pee. But alas, I could not and of course, I started to cry and screamed out a phrase that would come back to haunt me for years to come - "I just don't feel comfortable". I don't remember where I ended up relieving myself, but I do remember being teased about it for the next oh, five or six years.

Enough with the kid stuff, on to random facts:

3) I have visited 9.5 countries:
Canada, Mexico, England, France, Czech Republic, Denmark, Belgium, Japan, Italy (Germany and the Netherlands for hours at a time - each counts as .25, making the .5).

I have also visited 19 states: California, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, Delaware, New York, Massachusetts.

I have LIVED in four states (counting DC): California, Utah, Virginia, DC ... and will soon be adding a fifth with Oregon.

Most of you already know this, but to others it might be of interest:

4) I lived in a tent for two months. Yup, I can rough it with the best of them. Just as long as I have a cot and a zero and below sleeping bag (the cot was BYU's Archaeology department but the bag I still have). I was on a dig for my undergrad work ... it was in Escalante, Utah or Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM for all the archaeology or hiking geeks out there). The area is close to Bryce Canyon and is beautiful in its own way. It made me really appreciate the effects of erosion - how wind, water, and time can carve beautiful things out of stone. We dug stuff up and hiked the slot canyons in our free time ... it was dirty dirty work - but sooo awesome. We showered maybe once or twice a week. Mmmmm, good times.

And here's one that's a throw back to high school ... only because I think its sooo funny:

5) I was voted mostly likely to be married by the time I was 21 - by my Southern California High School senior class (this was not in Utah - 21 was considered really really young to get hitched). Ummm, yeah. Apparently Irvine High School Class of 2001 saw me, Bethany Johnson, as the marrying type. The young marrying type. The Universe sees me ... not in that way. Last time I checked, I am very very single and I am 24. In fact, besides a few boys I semi-dated in college, I have not had a serious boyfriend since I was 20. Pathetic. This I know. But when you think about it, what are the odds of you being attracted to someone you actually know and talk to and have a chance with - at the same time and to the same degree - as they are to you? Its near to impossible and it only gets worse as you get older. Believe me. You have all sorts of things working against you namely time, opportunity, and getting "set in your ways" also known as being too picky. And that whole forever thing - its a lot of pressure on a first date. I mean not for me ... I am all about commitment ... its just hard to find the right one. So all you people with someones out there - your lucky and don't you forget it.