Saturday, September 27, 2008

"Tag!!, I'm It"

I've been tagged. My friend, Mrs. Hinesley we will call her, has tagged me. I am supposed to reveal 6 things about myself and then tag 6 friends. Okay, sounds fun, now let's see.

1. I might answer to the name, Stephen. When I was a little girl, my family would go camping at the beach! I was less than 6 years old and of course within the first day or 2 would have gotten sand all in my bathing suit. So my mom would just let me swim in shorts (cutoff Winnie the Pooh's from Sears) and no shirt. Oh, let me mention that my mom kept my hair pretty short. One day, after we had been at the beach for almost a week, my parents walked over to talk to a family, that I had been hanging out with all week. (Can't imagine that I would have made some new friends after only a few days). The man and woman said to my parents, "We really have enjoyed Stephen these last few days". My Dad said, "Oh, that is great, but Stephen's name is Elizabeth!" What can I say, I had 2 older brothers and I thought they were pretty cool.

2. I was Lost at Sea in the Gulf of Mexico. July 4, 1992. I was at the beach with The Haring Family, A wonderful family that I used to babysit for here in Auburn. They treated me just like family and I got to go to the beach with them. After a long day of sailboat racing at Grayton Beach, we were all ready to return to the condo in SeaGrove. The Haring's Uncle Jim Patrie was offering sailing lessons to anyone who would help him take the boat back, so I said yes. There was no wind close to the coast so we went out kind of far to find a breeze. Finally, we turned and headed East, back toward home. (What I haven't mentioned was that while in the actual race, Harrison((boyfriend of a cousin))and I had to fight to keep the boat from tipping over, but we got it back down. Anyway, Jim and I get to the point where we need to turn the boat in toward the shore, we can see the house. As we turn, the boat starts to flip, we scramble to the top to shift our weight but to no avail, the boat ends up on its side. Over the next few hours we pull, we push, we do everything we can to right the boat but it can't be done. One of the pontoons had a run (like a run in your stocking) in it and had been taking on water all week long, it had reached its fill point. Because we had gone out so far to catch the wind, no one could see us. We spent all night in the ocean, watching the coast guard plane fly overhead looking for us. Fortunately, floated east instead of south, and ended up out in front of Panama City, just in time for the fishing boats that were heading out the next morning. One of them called the Coast Guard and were finally rescued around 9:00 am the next day.

3. I studied in Spain for a Summer Yes, my degree is in Spanish, but if you don't use it, you lose it, so don't ask me to speak it for you, because I can't.

4. My first car was a 1977 Honda Accord Hatchback. It wasn't as old as it sounds, I'm the one that is old. I turned 16 in November of 1985, so the car wasn't even 10 years old. My father bought this car from my Uncle Jimmy. It didn't have very many miles on it, my aunt just drove it around Montgomery most of the time. My Dad had it refurbished, it was really nice. The gear shift was mahogony, it had a pull choke for cold mornings, and best of all the new paint job my dad had done for me. It was a gold color, much like the original color, except my dad is color blind, he didn't see the green tint that was mixed in with the gold. My friend Ashley said it looked like a big sneeze.

5. I've been to the top of Jordan Hare at well past midnight. Joe and I used to work for the Electrical Distribution Department for Auburn University. Terry Bowden's first season and Auburn was expected to be really good! ESPN told Auburn they had to change the light bulbs at the stadium to be a certain brightness if they were going to come and put the Tigers on TV. So, at night, after the campus had cleared out, and so the linemen that we worked with could get overtime, we would go to the stadium, go all the way to the top decks and with Joe at the bottom of one light pole and me at the bottom of another, we would hoist one light bulb at a time, up in a bucket on a pulley, to our friends who were way up at the top of those poles, risking their lives for sure just to put the Tigers on ESPN! They even had to change out some of the fixtures. Did I mention that it was Terry Bowden's first season, which if you will remember was in the heart of the Eric Ramsey scandal. We got the brightness just right, and then for part of the Eric Ramsey penalty, Bowden and Housell opted that Auburn wouldn't be on TV at all that year! Oh well, we had fun.

6. I Love the Beach Anywhere in the Appalachiacola region, Cape San Blas, Pt. St. Joe, Appalachiacola, Indian Pass, or St. George. I wish I could just stay there all summer.


Now, I Tag 6 people. Please don't get offended if I don't tag you. I can only pick 6 and at least 2 of them I am going to tag because they haven't blogged in over a month, or ever Tamara!! I am trying to encourage you non-bloggers to get in the game!!


If you are tagged here are the rules:
1.Post the rules on your blog
2.Write 6 random things about yourself
3.Tag 6 people and pass it on for fun!

I TAG
Holly's Follies (Holly, tag Julee for me will ya?)
The Earles Girls
Where the Green Grass Grows
Hanging w/The Hansells
The Smith Family News

Yall know I can't stand to leave anyone out. I can't wait to read everyone's!

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7 comments:

The Hinesley House said...

That was fun, huh? That had to be pretty scary to be lost at sea! What a fun way to learn things about your fellow bloggers.

Heather said...

Lost at sea!!!!!! Sharks are my worst nightmare. I would have died of a heart attack before I was even rescued!!!

Anonymous said...

Okay, Stephen I cannot believe you spent the night in the ocean waiting to be rescued!! No wonder Joe married you! I love your blog and seeing pics of your kids. Cal laughed his head off at Wheeler singing. He couldn't believe how much he looked and acted like Joe. It was so funny when he put his hands behind his back after the little girl grabbed his hand. Both kids are beautiful!! It was great seeing you Sunday!

Dona

barclay said...

I am not sure I could come up with six interesting things about myself. Your stories are always great!

Elizabeth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amanda Parker said...

And I thought there were no more stories to tell!! I thought I knew them all! I'm glad you got tagged. You're a good storyteller (I mean that in the best way, of course) and it was neat to hear a few more of those old stories. Love the sneeze car!

Elizabeth Channel said...

I'm a tad jealous about the Jordan Hare midnight thing! (I taught English at AU during 1990-91!)