10 things you didn’t know about me

My blogging friend Renee who writes at My So Called Mommy Life (who you should totally follow if you don’t already)  published a post titled “10 things you didn’t know about me”.  I thought it was a great idea and while I tend to over share on my blog, there’s some tidbits I haven’t shared… Yet 😉 So here goes… 10 things you didn’t know about me.

1. I don’t have a middle name. I was born in Israel and the majority of people there don’t have middle names. I never thought anything of it until I moved to Canada and kept being asked for my middle name. For the record, all three of my kids have middle names. In fact, my youngest son has TWO middle names.

2. In my early 20’s I started the process to become a certified skydiver. After 7 solo-jumps and 3 tandem jumps, I decided to stop. The commute was long and I had to spend a lot of time for the weather to be just right before I can go jumping. It was also a very expensive hobby and one that my husband didn’t fully support for obvious risk factors. It doesn’t mean that I’ll never skydive again but I’m not going to get certified any time soon. I wrote about my full experience when I first started blogging and it’s been one of my most popular posts since.

3. I used to have snakes as pets when I was younger. My older brother convinced me to ask for them as a gift. I don’t know what was worse, me being sold on the idea to ask or my parents agreeing to buy them for me. They were Gardner snakes, one happened to be female and we ended up with baby snakes. I remember “playing” with them and letting them run lose around my room. All I can say is I was a weird kid. #NotHappeningAgain

4. While it may seem like I have no fear of heights (see #2 above), I’m actually scared of jumping into water from up high. At our cottage, we have a rocky cliff area called ‘Jump Off’ and I can’t go higher than the 15 foot jump. Mean while, my self-proclaimed-fear-of-heights-husband, will jump from 40 feet.  Go figure!

5. I’m a reality TV junky. I’m obsessed with ALL reality TV shows but my ultimate favourite is The Amazing Race,  followed by The Bachelor (including Bachelor in Paradise), followed by Survivor. It’s been my dream for as long as I can remember to be a contestant on The Amazing Race. Except that 1) I would only do it with my husband because he’s the only one I trust to get us to the finish line and WIN 2) Timing right now (with three young kids) doesn’t make it possible .

6. All of my grandparents are Holocaust Survivors and I’ve had the privilege of knowing all of them, including a great-grandmother, who also survived through WWI.

7. I have a bachelors and Masters degree in business but I always wanted to be a Psychologist.  I don’t have any regrets though. If I didn’t go the business route, I probably would have never met my husband. Also, I’m kind of obsessed with social media right now, so I think I truly found my place in the end.

8. One of my closest friends, who I speak with almost daily (thanks to WhatsApp), lives halfway across the world in Israel. I met her when we were 6 years old. After I left Israel (when I was 8), we kept in touch via snail mail. It’s one of my most cherished friendships and I’m grateful for her every day.

9. I only started drinking beer when I was approximately 27 years old. I was strict wine drinker before that.

10. I stayed at the Edge’s house (David Howell Evans from the band U2) in Ireland when I was there over ten years ago. Long story short, he wasn’t home at the time (he was in South Africa with his family), but through 6 degrees of separation, his sister-in-law introduced my friend (see #8 above) and I to his nanny, who was around our age. She traveled with us around Ireland and was our host when we stayed at his house.