List #500: 5 100-Word Stories About Me [GUEST LIST]

List #500: 5 100-Word Stories About Me As Written By My Immediate Family.

1. (Mom): As a young child, Nic struggled to fall asleep and stay asleep. If I sang loudly, and rocked him fast, he would eventually fall sleep. To keep him asleep, I had to continue to sing and rock. Because I knew all the words, I sang “The Christmas Song”, over and over and over and over.

Many years later, while attending Nic’s high school holiday concert, during a medley of tunes I heard a solo trumpet playing part of “The Christmas Song.” Although I could not see the performer, I knew it was Nic. It was a precious gift to me.

2. (Brother): Listen:

I remember this one time, Nic approached me with a challenge. He wanted to play an awesome game that he read about at xkcd.com. The object of the game was to take stock numbers for the previous day (or something like that... unimportant) and translate them into coordinates, then to travel to that location and howl to the moon or plant your American Flag into the soil or something. Again, unimportant. We did so and trudged through the forest to a swamp. Uneventful. Wet. Turns out it was private property, so we walked back to encounter suspicious cops. Cops...

3. (Sister): One time I went to visit Nic in Maryland, and he was going to host a party. To be helpful, I thought I would be nice and rearrange Nic’s living room furniture so it would be easier for people to sit and talk to each other. Apparently I ruined the party because I put Nic’s party chair in the wrong place. Also I made the mistake of putting the skittles and chips in bowls instead of leaving them in the bag. Nic said he would never be able to host a party again because people would have unrealistic expectations. Dang.

4. (Dad): When you about nine years old, I took you to a Twins game. I remember that you were wearing a "Twins" uniform. You were excited to get a foul ball. A foul ball came right where we were sitting. We tried to get it, but the adult sitting next to us got instead. I was dissapointed that he did not give you the ball. Also at that game, you were interviewed by one of the Minneapolis television stations. It was a memorable time at the old Metrodome. You didn't get the ball, but you got your interview on the television.

5. (Me): When I was younger, I liked to go fishing with my Grandpa. This was not because I liked to fish. I didn’t. Putting worms on hooks felt gross, and killing the catch felt cruel (eating them was fine). What I liked was listening to my Grandpa tell me “stories” and “facts” (which were often indistinguishable). We did generate one “Fish Tale:” On September 1^st (late-1980s), using minnows as bait, I caught a perch. Then a northern pike took the perch. Grandpa and I battled the chain of fish, but were unsuccessful in landing any of them, as the line broke.