A Surprise Honor from a Friend

Can you see the egg on my face? Well it's there, believe me. On Monday I received an email (supposedly) from a Face Book friend who was stranded in London having been mugged and trying to get home.  Bad grammar and spelling set off bells and whistles in my head and eventually found out that, as suspected, it was a fraud.

The following day I received an email (supposedly) from friend and Dutch blogger, Peter (at Tippin' The Scales) with a subject line that was uncharacteristic for him, or so I thought.  It read "You've won an AWARD!" So I didn't open the message and sent Peter a note expressing concern that his account had been hacked...it had not.

The message, as it turns out, was from Peter announcing that he was bestowing upon this little corner of blogtopia The Versatile Blogger Award.

Now comes the hard part. Receiving this Award means that I am to disclose 7 things about myself that are probably unknown to readers. Here goes.

1. The victim of a hit-and-run driver at age 5 and in a coma for 4 weeks. Don't know any details.
2. Learned to cook at the feet of my beloved grandfather who told me that "knowing how to cook will serve you well, no matter what life choices you make." And he was so right.
3. At age 12 was a dancer on a local version of American Bandstand on New Orleans TV, performing specialty production numbers weekly.
4. I was the youngest "dance teacher" at Fred Astaire Studios in New York to achieve the Gold level of training.  At 17 years of age.
5. Attended NYU Film School to study the Silent films and was fortunate to meet and talk with many legends of that period. Something that gives me chills to this very day.
6. A voice actor doing narration and voice-overs for commercials and other productions.
7. Pilfered many 6-packs of Ensure from a nurses station refrigerators at Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital in NYC in the 1980s and distributed the products to AIDS patients on the floor.

 Now it is my turn to embarrass shine a light on other blogs that I read and like very much.

Spo Reflections: A regular read for me; a place of comfort, wisdom, shared angst, and sprinkled with just the right amount of humor.  He makes me smile and makes me wish I had brother like him.

Telling Secrets: Elizabeth, the mutual friend of Peter's other awardee, Josh of Gay Spirit Diary, and a dear friend of mine. An Episcopal Priest, mother, grandmother, and longtime activist, she is a fierce advocate for equality, a force to be reckoned with, and a ray of sunshine on an otherwise dismal day.

Most of my other regular reads have already been honored, so Cheers to all. You make every day a little happier for me, and for that I am truly grateful.

 Rules For The Versatile Blogger Award
► Acknowledge the award and thank and link back to the person bestowing it. A good way to do this is through a post such as this.
► Pass on the award to other bloggers:
►Let the new recipients know you’ve selected them. This is optional.
►Share seven things about yourself that your readers or followers might not know. (See “Seven Bits,” above.)
►Post the award to your blog.

And so it goes.

*