2 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me

1. I've ridden an elephant. A long time ago, for reasons long forgotten now, someone brought an elephant to Market Square in Kenosha. (Perhaps the circus was in town.) A bunch of people lined up for a chance to parade around Market Square on the elephant's back. My memory of this is hazy at best, but I recall being very high up in the air, and I think my oldest sister rode with me. I believe we were in a basket, not straddling the elephant or anything. I still can't believe my mom didn't bring a camera. Your daughters are going to ride an elephant and you don't take pictures?

2. Back in junior high, Lindsey and I baked a cake for the sole purpose of eating it without using our hands. We'd always had a secret hankering to eat cake by just sticking our faces directly in and going to town. So we decided ... why not? I think it was the last day of school. Lindsey came over, and we baked a cake - it was a Pillsbury Funfetti cake, if memory serves - and frosted it up nice. We then cut it in half, figuring that half a cake was more than enough for the full effect, each took half on a plate, put our hands behind our backs, and dove in on the count of three. All I really remember about the actual hands-free cake experience is that it was a lot harder than you might imagine to eat cake with one's face, without picking it up or cutting it into pieces first. I think when the actual moment was at hand we got wussy about really getting our faces dirty and tried to sort of nibble around the edges. There was a lot of giggling, and we gave up fairly quickly.

The thing is, remembering this kind of makes me want to try it again.