I just did this thing on facebook and it was pretty powerful, to write, and to read others'. This is what I did for myself:

25 Random Things about Me

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

1. I am happiest when I am learning. Like that robot in Short Circuit, “More input!”
2. I am surprised at how much love my heart has and holds, even when I have been deeply hurt. I don’t seem to have an “off” button once I have cared about you. It can make life a little harder when dealing with people who can do that. My family and friends are the most important parts of my life.
3. I’ve known I wanted to teach art since Mrs. Rabinowicz’s class in 5th grade. I had always liked drawing, but she was incredible, inspiring and encouraged creativity. I hope that I can make that kind of impression on my kids – that skill increases with practice, but that appreciation comes with knowledge. Not everyone will grow up to be a Picasso, but they should be able to understand the significance of one, the importance of art to communicate the human experience.
4. I LOVE being a mom! Next, I consider myself a teacher, then an artist. My creativity is often channeled through the lessons that I work on with my students.
5. I was afraid to have a son; I was sure that I wouldn’t know what to do with him. But when Chuckie was born, I felt my heart grow. I was very sick when I went into labor (pre-eclempsia) – without modern medicine, we both would have died. But I felt this peace wash over me. I told my husband to take care of the baby, to chose him if he had to. I would die for him, and I wasn’t afraid, for the first time in my life.
6. My daughter Brynne was born with a rare birth defect: craniosynostosis, essentially a closed soft spot in her skull. I am thankful for my research skills, and to those amazingly talented doctors who were able to perform her corrective surgery. It went so well that she only needed one to “look as she would have, had she been born without the anomaly.” She is beautiful!! The hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life was lay my baby on an operating table and hold her down while she cried, not knowing if I would ever hold her again (it was a 7 hour surgery). I often think of those parents and children who face so many more challenges and surgeries, and realize how lucky we really are. Most doctors don’t even know what they are looking at when this happens.
7. Sometimes I’m still taken by surprise by the woman who looks back at me from the mirror, or how I look in photos. And I REALLY can’t believe how old I am – mentally, I think I stopped somewhere in my late twenties.
8. I hate getting my face wet, or catching a chill out of the shower.
9. By 16, I had decided that I would always be alone (for lots of reasons). Then I found myself in a fairy tale that lasted more than 20 years. It was wonderful while it was, and I am grateful for that long, happy chapter in my life.
10. My dad died of a sudden heart attack when he was only 50. I had been on the phone with him earlier in the day, and he sounded out of breath and said he was out with my sister on a Shop-till-you-drop trip. He went to take a nap and never woke up. We had just started to relate to each other as adults. He taught me that you stay true, no matter what.
11. I can only do mental cartwheels. Something about tossing your ass over your head…I don’t like hurting myself. I still hope that I will learn how to do real ones, someday. Its why I never went out for cheerleading. And I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was 9.
12. I was surprised and hurt when I was a kid when others would say I was bossy – I have worked hard my whole life to keep that in check, balance out being helpful and not pushy. I think it made me a better teacher. I want to be a good person.
13. My mother died 5 years ago from lung cancer (please quit if you smoke!). She lived with me and I helped take care of her. It was very hard, especially when it metastasized to her brain (it was like Alzheimer’s with seizures). A few months afterwards, my aunt came to visit and I asked her to take a few things that she might like to remember Mom by. Aunt Joan picked a basket with some artificial plants in it. She loved the basket, but the plants were faded, so she decided to empty them out into the garbage when she got home, before she even brought them inside. Mom had hot-glued the foam into the basket, so Joan got a knife to dig it out; she was rushing since it was getting dark. As she almost finished, she heard a clink of metal-on-metal. She had found my mother’s wedding ring. Mom had lost it a few years before, thinking it must have slipped down the shower drain after we searched for weeks, and was very upset by it. Now, here it was. Aunt Joan gave it to me, and I wear it still. It is no small miracle that the basket didn’t end up in Good Will the next day, or the plants just simply tossed into the garbage in the dimming light. Thanks, Mom.
14. I love books and magazines, and have more reading material than can be gone through in only one lifetime.
15. My favorite art medium is chalk pastels, but I usually end up working with digital photography – time limits!
16. I am saving up to visit Italy – ever since high school, I have wanted to walk those ancient streets, and be in the presence of Michaelangelo’s masterpieces. I think I will end up spending hours looking up in the Sistene, just trying to absorb the beauty. It will be my first journey around the world (Ireland next).
17. Speaking of time, it is funny how long I can be absorbed by a painting or a scene in nature, playing with the kids, or reading. The clock seems to stop ticking. Daily-life stuff, like cleaning, shopping, sometimes even eating, can be rude interruptions. There should be 48 hours to a day - there is so much I want to DO!!
18. I have lists of my lists.
19. I am stronger than I ever imagined I could be. And amazed at how much there is still left to learn, about life, and about myself.
20. I don’t get mean people. I am always taken by surprise when bad things happen; I’m working on that. I have to be careful to protect my heart, sometimes.
21. I love the smell of spring – fresh cut grass, lilacs and hyacinths, the rain. Everything is new again. I love being outside to soak it all in: camping, hiking, canoeing.
22. I want to go to a New Year’s Eve party in NYC someday, dressed in a gown with hair and makeup done. Just once, I’d like to walk into a room and make heads turn .
23. I am setting goals for myself – this month, I finally start taking dance lessons! I might have looked like a wall-flower, but there is a Dancing Queen longing to break out!
24. I realize that you can love someone, even when they are no longer with you. Everyone has to walk their own path.
25. I am learning to let go, to not try to control things that are out of my hands. That there is Something bigger than we are at work, and as flawed human beings, we will never have all of the answers. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try to find out as many as I can!