Oh, the Humanity

Here are some things about me you may not know, but might actually be interested to find out. There is a small explanation behind this post below the list. If personal details thrill you, this list is for you. If not, hang in there, a better post is coming. I hope it is, anyway.

• My favorite season - the first half of each. I really do love all four, but I get tired of them after six weeks or so
• My dream vacation - a couple of weeks in Disneyworld with my kids, my wife. An accessible suite that sleeps all five of us, a powerchair and access to an ice machine would be really nice too, because of my disabilities
• My most fervent prayer - that God would use me where I am with what He gives me
• My 2nd most fervent prayer - that God would heal me and let me move forward
• My least favorite aspect of my disability - the unpredictability of my Fibromyalgia. Being unable to plan anything with certainty takes me out of the driver's seat for my life, for good or ill.
• My Brother's favorite NFL team - The Denver Broncos
• My Father's favorite NFL team - The Denver Broncos
• My Son's favorite NFL team - The Denver Broncos
• My own favorite NFL team - uh, do we have to guess?
• Cats or dogs - Cats, because nothing can replace my boyhood dog. Weird, huh?
• Allergies - Yes, cats, dogs, and pollen (even in raw honey, which I love but can't have)
• Speaking of sweet stuff, I have a sweet tooth that loves strawberry Twizzlers, Haribo gummy candy, and Coca-Cola in the glass bottles. Yes, I can't have any of those without a risk of setting back weight loss. Still, when I'm in a lot of pain, I crave these "comfort foods."
• Favorite Fiction Series - Clancy's Jack Ryan series, Tolkien's Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia
• Currently Reading - The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy -- the only classic Clancy that I haven't read yet, The Shack by Wm P. Young (with my daughter)
• Early on in life, I had a couple of disabilities, ADHD and a visual disorder, that had once convinced me I would never love to read
• Things I miss most from my "able-bodied" days
• Camping, snow or car camping included but primative was the most fun...and a lot of work!
• Hiking - I used to climb 14ers and I miss rising to the challenge of making it to the top, the wildflowers, the pristine alpine and tundra slopes and the peace of continually moving. I don't miss sunburn, dehydration headaches, nausea, encountering all four seasons in an hour, and the lightning storms
• Walking anywhere for 20 minutes without pain
• Hoisting my child up in the air and getting a big squeal of joy for my trouble
• Fixing things without having to rely on anyone else to do my work
• Playing sports badly, like soccer, football, and raquetball (they all involve violent collisions)
• Fishing brooks and streams for trout and being able to move from hole to hole
• Biking anywhere
• Flying down a mountain on skis or an alpine slide
• Favorite places to eat - Outback Steakhouse, Chili's, Panda Express
• Favorite date - Dinner with my wife at the above followed by a quiet, secluded walk under the stars--if I can find a powerchair...sigh--and then a shared dessert
• Favorite weekend trip - Soaking in Glenwood Springs
• Favorite home cooked meal - Roast beef or roast leg of lamb, and mashed potatos, spinach salad and cheesecake for dessert
• Best meal I ever had: a tie between a breakfast of smoked trout off the bone overlooking a mountain meadow and a dinner by the campfire of baked trout (freshly caught hours before) followed by a large steak cooked over a pine wood fire. Gotta love campfire cooking!
• PC or Mac - PC, home-assembled with help from a good tech (I'm brave, but not foolish)
• Favorite movies (the short list) - Braveheart, The Princess Bride, Remember the Titans, Facing the Giants, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, National Treasure, good ones I can see with my kids like The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, etc.
• Favorite Musicians - Very eclectic... U2, Rich Mullins, David (you know, the Psalms?), Mozart, Strauss, Margaret Becker, Keith Thomas (Thank you, D!), Charlie Peacock, Celtic Praise, 80s anything, really anything but screaming in a mic. If you have that much anger, you don't need my money unless you're willing to get counseling
• I collect train DVDs, specifically DVDs about Colorado Railroads, past and present. I enjoy them enough to sometimes write about them and review them here.
• Due to my weather sensitivity, I watch the weather closely and know all about dewpoints, millibars and meteorology
• These days, I drive less than I did when I was 15 years old because a lot of my medications say "Use care when operating heavy machinery..."
• As a teen, I knew every line to Top Gun, but didn't own the movie until a few years ago. I was a huge fan of trains, then planes, and now trains again. I guess I like big noisy things that go fast

I wrote this post to give you a sense of who writes "Waldens Wits," and that this is only one side of my life. I love writing and it is something God put in me as a "gotta do this or I'll explode" kind of thing. I don't like writing self-centered posts like this too often. On the other hand, this is a small part of me "knowing myself" and understanding what I enjoy. If we don't find healthy expressions of our need to love and enjoy things, they may surface in other, less-healthy ways. Most importantly, I deeply appreciate my wife who has walked beside me, knowing all this stuff and loving me regardless.