Interview With: Linda

Name: Linda

Aliases: Mom, Grammy, Nurse Linda

Occupation: Retired, part-time nurse at juvenile detention

Stephanie: What is your favorite thing about being retired?

Linda: Free to do whatever I please or not to do anything if I choose not to do it.  If I don’t want to do something, I don’t have to.

  

Stephanie: What is a Christmas tradition you had growing up?

Linda: Always putting up the Christmas tree and decorating it on Christmas Eve.  It was never up before Christmas Eve.  It was a family thing.

Before the world got so caught up in getting things ready, we did that when the kids were little, but now everyone starts doing it right after Thanksgiving.

Stephanie: What are 2 things on your bucket list?

Linda: 

1. Make a trip to the East Coast.
2. Change up the colors in my house.  That requires me to get bold.

Stephanie: What are 5 things you are thankful for this holiday season?

Linda: 

1. Health
2. Family
3. Church
4. Friends
5. A part-time job

Stephanie: What do you like about being a Grandma?

Linda: That I can spoil Makayla rotten and then send her home.  I like teaching her traditions, too.  The other night we were trying to decide what to have for dinner on Sunday night and I told her that growing up we would have a huge meal after church on Sunday and still be full at suppertime, so we would have popcorn and apples every Sunday night.  And now that’s what she wants to have every Sunday night.

Stephanie: Tell me a funny story about yourself.

Linda: When I was growing up, I used to love the TV show Lassie, but whenever it was on I was afraid something bad would happen to Lassie so you hide behind the chair in the living room, and I would peek out every once in awhile to make sure Lassie was still ok.

I also cried my heart out watching a Miley Cyrus movie by myself one time.

Stephanie: If you could see anyone live in concert, who would you want to see?

Linda: Mannheim Steamroller.  I have never been to a live concert of theirs, but I would love to.  They are going to be in town, and I have been dropping hints, but the kids haven’t fallen for it yet.

Stephanie: What do you miss most about working with me? :)

Linda: Our roadtrips- talking about food and our deepest thoughts.  We didn’t have anyone listening to us, and we could just talk about what we wanted to.  We would talk about food a lot, and then be ravenous when we got there.

There was that one really icy trip where I would have turned back, but you kept saying “No! It will get better.”  And you never believed it in your heart.  You just kept saying “Just a little further.”  When we were almost there, you finally admitted “yeah, we probably should have turned back.”

Stephanie: If you could meet anybody, who would you want to meet?

Linda: In my wildest dreams, I would like to meet one of the presidents of the United States.  I probably wouldn’t be able to talk, but I would like to meet them.  Just to make sure they felt and looked the same way as everyone else, since we put them up on such a big pedestal.

Stephanie: What is some good advice you have received?

Linda: Be the best that I can.

My mom used to say “Go with the way you feel in your heart.”  It usually wasn’t the most popular advice.

Be honest in every endeavor you pursue.  Mom and Dad were really big on honesty—it was always very important to them.  Speak the way you feel.

Stephanie: What is your favorite hymn and why?

Linda: How Great Thou Art because of the wonders of God’s creation.

Stephanie: What do you want to tell the world?

Linda: Growing old is not all its cranked up to be.  Age gracefully.