Middle Name Meme

Okay, okay, okay. It was only a matter of time before this thing found its way to me, and that fine gourmet cook, JohnieB, has tagged me, so here we go.

Here are the rules:
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don’t have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother’s maiden name).
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged.)

3. I'm not going to tag anyone, because I'm like Mimi and don't like to tag people. Though I might change my mind tomorrow.

1. Done. I like doing things out of order. Maybe that should be in the meme.

2. My middle name is Carol. After my maternal great-grandmother, Karoline, born in the German Rhineland in the 19th century, emigrated to New York, where she met and married great-grandpa Bela, the Hungarian with the handlebar mustache.

C is for Charismatic. That sounds like boasting, but I am a good public speaker and also I keep getting plunked in leadership positions. Of course that could just mean I am Crazy.

A is for Artsy. Nuff said.

R is for Ready for a Vacation. Now.

O is for Olive Oil. Gotta have some in my kitchen all the time.

L is for -- I was going to say Literary, but I'm not there yet (maybe in six years or so when I've finally written a novel), so let's say Literate. I love reading and words and writing. And Languages. Also Liturgy. And, um, I'm Long-winded.

No surprises. I'd better go on to my confirmation names. Which are Marie, for Herself (the French form of the name) and Catherine, for Siena, that uppity holy woman (okay, she was also highly neurotic, but no one ever said you had to be perfect to be a saint).

M is for Musical. I love to listen to listen to music, I love to sing, I love to dance, I even love to chant in church. I do not, however, know how to do the Mambo, but if someone wants to teach me, I'm game.

A is for Auntie Jane, which is what I am. To my nephews and to my elder nephew's children (well, Great-Aunt to those, but let's not push it with the elder-titles) but also to several other young adults and children. Soon to be more numerous because I have three colleagues at work who are pregnant.

R is for Really Ready for a Vacation.

I is for Independent. Fiercely so. Which is funny because I am also a very community-bound person. Go figure. So maybe Interdependent is the better word.

E is for Extroverted-but-much-less-than-I-used-to-be. Somewhere during Ph.D. studies, which also coincided with the advent of middle age, I moved almost to the border between Extrovert and Introvert on the Myers-Briggs scale. Which people don't believe, but it's true, I am no longer a wild extrovert. I really need that time alone.

and

C is for Creative. Probably goes with the "Independent" above, or vice versa.

A is for Adventurous, though definitely Not Athletic and sometimes Anxious. And Anglican, of course.

T is for Travelin' Jane, who loves to be a homebody but whose family and dear friends are scattered around the globe, so off she goes, now and again. Plus it's nice to get out of Town once in a while.

H is for Humorous Though Not Sarcastic. And Homebody. Also Hot Tubs, which California had lots of and North Carolina does not, boo hoo.

E is for Enthusiastic.

R is for Radical, I hope.

I is for Intellectual.

N is for Napping, though not right now.

E is for Entertaining, Episcopal, Elegant (or so we wish), Empathetic, Erudite, and occasionally Exasperating.