"In my long and colorful career, one thing stands out: I have been misunderstood." 

~ Mae West

15 Day Blogger Challenge ~ Getting to Know the Blogger ~ Day 1

15 Day Blogger Challenge - Getting to Know the Blogger

This challenge is open to any and everyone who wants to get to know each other a little better in the blogosphere. I encourage you all to make this challenge your own. There is no special format to follow or rules on posting. Do your challenge in 1 day by answering all the questions at once or do it in 90 days. Just have fun!

Challenge Questions:

1. Introduction to this Challenge and tell us a little about yourself!
2. Where did you grow up? Small town or Big City?
3. What's some of your favorite memories from childhood?
4. What type of student were you in school?
5. Who was your closest friends as a teenager?
6. Where have you worked?
7. Has your life gone the way you expected it?
8. Tell us a bit about your family!
9. What are your goals? What are your hobbies?
10. Why did you start blogging and what is your blog about?
11. What are a couple of your favorite blog tools that you use?
12. Your top 5 posts and why you think they were successful.
13. 3 blogs you visit and read enthusiastically.
14. Social Networks/Blog Communities you want others to know you're a part of.
15. Closing and any upcoming posts or raffles you would like to share with us.

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Who Am I?

I am Damien and Dylan's mom. I am their buddy, their pal, their confidant, their disciplinarian. I am the person who bathed them, fed them, and powdered their bottoms. I am the person that they depended on for survival. I am the person that taught them how to walk, talk, and use the toilet. I am their advocate, and I helped them learn to stand up for themselves in times when backing down would be much, much easier. I am the person who has prepared them to leap from the nest every now and again before the day that will come when they leap just once more down their own paths and adventures. And, then, I will still be their mom, but lacking in their company and the endless responsibilities that consume my every day.

I am Darren's wife. I am his best friend, his balance, his equal, his intimate. I am committed to my life with him and bathe him in ceaseless doting. I am his lover, and together we reach the heights of passion and ecstasy and delve to the depths of the abyss in which to drown our sorrows. Together we share our thoughts, ideals, minds, values. I am the person that taught him not to fear love and how to trust. I am honest in my opinions and share with him even though we may not agree. I am his steadfast, loyal, devoted companion. I give him space when needed and join with him in our conquests of the obstacles in our lives. Together we are one power, but in his absence, I am still whole.

I am a daughter, a sister, a niece, an aunt, a granddaughter, and a friend. I confide, disclose, declare, confess. I am the person that will listen when an ear is needed. I use my words when advice is warranted. I am vigilant in my assertions and gentle in my opinions. I am a shoulder on which to cry and in need of a shoulder every now and again. I love, hold, cry, and remember. I am a caretaker, a friend, a master chef, and the life of the party. I am a wallflower drawn down in a corner and the nut hiding deep within its shell. I am just like the others and not like anyone else.

I am part of the people that permeate my innermost circles, and they a part of me. I carry them with me as I traverse my rocky path. At times they are the rocks on which I stub my toe, and others I am the sharp burr that penetrates their skin, but together concessions are made, and we smooth to tranquil pebbles, cool against the skin. I am a pocket of pebbles smoothed throughout the years. I learn and grow because of them and despite of them. I change, for I am malleable, complaisant, rebellious, consistent, erratic. I am common and conventional, embellished in my liberal eccentricities. I am a walking contradiction, a conformed antithesis to myself.

But, who am I?

The things that define me are the things that constrain me, as well as the things that allow me to run free. I am spiritual, one with nature, one against nature. I am a thinker, a student, a teacher, a philosopher.  I am rambunctious. I am meek. I am alone, surrounded by those who love me. I want only peace, harmony, love. I want love. I want love. I want love. I am at odds with myself.

But, who am I?

I am an entity filling space amongst atoms sitting upon atoms bound by a tiny charge. I am protons and electrons floating through air. I am flesh and blood with a heart that beats spreading the life-force throughout my limbs. I am the breath that rides upon the wind, without which I will cease. I am a stockpile of minerals that consume Earth, and to minerals, I will return. I am millions of cells held together by tissue bonds. I am a DNA code unique to myself. I am a collection of electrical impulses jumping from synapse to receptor. I am ideas, notions, impressions, feelings, judgments dangling from each dendrite in hopes of being noticed before lost forever. I am the neuron that charges every movement.

I am the frontal lobe, emotional, unpredictable, convergent. I am upper management and a disheveled mess. I am a wordsmith, a scribe, a pencil pusher. I am the parietal lobe, clumsy, awkward, graceful, elegant, steady, strong. I am the assemblage of all I see, perceive, catch from the corner of my eye. I am all that I hear and all that I am deaf to, the low hum of the world around me that I have long forgotten. I consist of every song, every word, every thought, every smell, every touch that has invaded my every sense. I am a multitude of memories, hopes, dreams, fantasies, realities. I am every award, every achievement, every goal conquered. I am every mistake I ever made.

But, who am I?

I honestly do not believe I can tell you, for I cannot even tell myself. The best I can say is that I am me.

"I want the freedom to carve and chisel my own face, to staunch the bleeding with ashes, to fashion my own Gods from my entrails." ~ Gloria Anzualdua

"The pain of leaving those you love is only a prelude to understanding yourself." 

~ Shirley MacLaine

Native American Code of Ethics

1. Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak. 
2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance. 
3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. 
4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor. 
5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community,the wilderness or from a culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours. 
6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be people or plant. 
7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression. 
8. Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative energy that you put out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you. 
9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven. 
10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body and spirit. Practice optimism. 
11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family. 
12. Children are the seeds of our future. Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life's lessons. When they are grown, give them space to grow. 
13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you. 
14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of one's will within this universe. 
15. Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self - all need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind. Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails. 
16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react. Be responsible for your own actions. 
17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others. Do not touch the personal property of others - especially sacred and religious objects. This is forbidden. 
18. Be true to yourself first. You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first. 
19. Respect others religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others. 
20. Share your good fortune with others. Participate in charity. 

"What I wanted to be when I grew up was in charge." ~ Wilma Vaught