Alot of people that have recently met me and started reading my blog can only define me as “Kim whose husband Gregory died.”

Even though that is unfortunately a HUGE part of who I am now, there’s a lot of other things about me that make me who I am as a person. Many of them I like, many of them I don’t. But all in all, it’s all me.

So here’s kind of a bullet list of things about Kim…..

* I was born in Mississippi but grew up in Singapore, because my dad was in oil.

* My dad also grew up overseas. In Liberia. He had monkeys, elephants and such for pets. What a life.

* I was born two days after Camille, lived through a tornado tearing my parent’s house apart in 2004, made it through Katrina, was in a boat that was struck by lightning and have survived a monsoon or two. If the weather gets bad you may want to get away from me. Far, far away.

* When I was 3 I fell off the roof of our house and almost “PUT MY EYE OUT.”

* I loved Singapore and am so thrilled to be reconnecting with friends from there thru the interwebz. Yay interwebz!

*Upon moving back from S’pore I lived in Poplarville, MS until 2005. I miss my friends but again, the miracle of the interwebz is bringing us together !

* My mom is deathly afraid of animals but has always let me have a dog. Thanks Mom.

* When I was 13 I walked through a sliding glass door and had 182 stitches in my legs and face. Oh and plastic surgery.

* I have trekked in Nepal, camped in the Australian outback and walked along the Great Wall of China.

* I have also been to about every country I can think of.

* But I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon.

* My dad played pro football for the 49ers for a few years.

* I have always struggled with weight – up/down/up/down. But I’m ok with that now.

* I have an older brother whom I adore – Hi Alya !!

* I used to be a cop. Near the end, I HATED IT. I wasn’t actually thrilled with the circumstances of my leaving law enforcement but it was the best thing that happened to be professionally.

* I am now a computer nerd and I LOVE IT. I LOVE going to work. Except when I’m in a funk, and getting there usually alleviates that.

* I am obsessed with the weather. I wish I was a meteorologist.

* I miss my grandparents now more than ever. I wish my Papaw was here to guide me.

* Speaking of my Papaw, he didn’t speak english until he was 12. Only french..and my dad was born in NOLA…so technically I’m a cajun girl.

* I have no musical talent whatsoever. I can’t draw, I can’t sing, I can’t dance. Somewhere in the gene pool I lost out.

* I love t-shirts. Any cool restaurant, bar, visiting place, if you’ve got a cool t-shirt, it will be mine.

* At Mardi Gras and parades in general, my friends used to call me the bead whore. I never flashed for any, but I was good at getting them !

* I love jello shots.

* I am having a hard time watching my Daddy fight cancer but I can’t stand to not be around him.

* I am mad at God and the world in general, but especially me, for taking my Husband away.

* I am trying very hard to deal with the thing above. Not so easy.

There’s alot more that I am sure I will add, but I’ll leave that for another post.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Oh and one more thing.

* I love my husband.

I love Calvin and Hobbes. It was/is my favorite comic strip EVAH !! The Far Side was a close second.

The way they are hugging. Like pure love? Bliss ? That’s what we had. Even on our worst of days, it was always there.

Gregory had never heard of C & H. He was more of a Hagar the Horrible, Beetle Bailey person.

Christmas 2006, he asked me what I wanted for present time. I couldn’t really think of anything I needed, but there were lots of things I wanted. Unbeknownst to me he had already bought me a wedding band to match my engagement ring ( we eloped – 10 days before Christmas!!) and a beautiful diamond cross necklace. I told him candles, bath stuff, trivial little things. Nothing that mattered.

And then I remembered that the Calvin and Hobbes collection was out. The ENTIRE history of C & H , in a boxed set. I had seen it at Costco and had to resist it’s lure each time I walked by.

So I mentioned it.

Christmas morning, 2006. Totally shocked me with the diamond band and the necklace. Bath stuff, candles. A pink tool kit of my very own !! With a bag !! *squeee* The first three seasons of The Sopranos on DVD !!

And ……the C&H box set. He wrapped it himself. It was the last present he gave me. It’s so heavy. He got tape stuck on one of the spines. It’s still there.

I began reading them immediately. I would leave it on the counter, the couch, wherever I had been, with a post-it note for a bookmark. I would giggle and smile and snort. I came home once from my POlice-job-from-hell (official title) and he was asleep in his chair with book two in his lap.

I asked him the next morning if he liked it. He said he did, but enjoyed me liking it more. So last night I pulled the books out and started going through them. Some made me laugh, many made me cry. But they all helped my heart.

God bless Bill Watterston. This is my favorite quote from C&H…..

“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can play together all night.

May you all have sweet dreams tonight, and every night to follow.

You too baby. I love you. See you in my dreams.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,Silence the pianos and with muffled drumBring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overheadScribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,My working week and my Sunday rest,My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;For nothing now can ever come to any good.

— W.H. Auden