A Longtime Dream?

Is there something that you've dreamt of doing for a long time? Why haven't you done it?

The Beloved would love to visit Canada and New Zealand. We haven't taken these trips yet because 'Money'. It would be lovely to visit, and perhaps we need to start saving.

My dream for the last 12 years has been to lose weight. I'm working on it, and have dropped 5 dress sizes. My goal is to do this in a slow, steady, sustainable way. Slowly means the skin has a chance to shrink back. It would be horrible to lose loads of weight and to instead be a thin person in a fat person's skin.

Crystal Ball Of Truth

If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?

I would use a crystal ball to find out the true intentions of politicians. It would be fascinating to find out their true motives regarding the decision they make and the alliances they forge.

Gain A Quality Or An Ability

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability, what would it be?

We decided to work are a team. The Beloved is going to become super intelligent, and I am going to be able to communicate effectively to all.

I did consider becoming a teleporter, and setting up my own SuperUber personal transport service. I could become fantastically rich if I was able to teleport, and there's so much good that could be done with this ability.

A Life Story in Four Minutes

Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.

We have spent more than half our lives together. We know each other's stories very well.

Change Anything

If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

My first thought was 'I'm not going to air dirty laundry in public'. My second thought was 'Too right!' and my third thought was 'So choose something else.'

If I could change anything, I would want my Grandma to have lived a long, healthy life. One evening she wasn't feeling too well, and she went to bed early. She either had a huge stroke or heart attack, and died instantly. Grandma was a very practical person, very generous, and incredibly loving.

If I could change anything about the way I was raised, I would choose to have my Grandma have a hand in raising me for longer. We lived next door to Grandma and Grandpa. We would see them multiple times each day, and they were a huge part of our lives. When Grandma died, Grandpa slipped away from us too.

One of my favourite memories of Grandma was the annual birthday shopping trip. It would start in her sitting room. She would tell me the price limit, and we'd talk about what sort of things I might like to receive as a gift. Then we'd walk into town and hit the shops. We'd go from shop to shop, talking, laughing, comparing possible purchases. When the right gift had been decided upon, Grandma would pay and then we would head off to the Italian ice cream parlour.

The gift was wonderful, but it was spending time alone with Grandma that was the best part. She was always busy, always doing. However when a grandchild wanted to talk to her she would give them her full attention. "Wait a moment, and I'll be right with you." and she was.

It was also such fun baking with her, making ice cream, and learning how to sew and knit.

Most Grateful

For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

We are grateful for many many things, but the thing we are most grateful for is our family. Eccles and Stitch are pretty fantastic human beings. They are both kind, loving, generous, and intelligent.

I'm a pretty grateful person, especially small things. A clear blue sky, a rainbow, a bacon butty, these are a few of my favourite things. Little things make me happy, and make me smile. They cause me to express wonder and awe, and I am grateful.

Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common. This was a fun one. We discussed it on our 26th wedding anniversary. We started naming our common things, but it quickly turned into things we both loved. We were snuggled up together on a sofa in a coffee shop. The Beloved was drinking coffee, and I was sipping hot chocolate. There was a lot of love in the air.

A Secret Hunch?

Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

Neither of us had a hunch about our deaths. The Beloved would like his death to be sudden. I would prefer to have a short, serious illness, oh painless too. This would be to allow family and friends to say goodbye, and for me to sign any paperwork that would be useful to have signed.

I do however know what I would like after I die. First of all, the medical profession can have any bit of me that would be useful to someone else. Afterwards, I'd like a 'green' burial, or woodland burial. The body is wrapped in a linen shroud, and placed in a cardboard coffin. There's no embalming. Then the body is buried in a field, and a tree planted on top. Over time, the field becomes a woodland. I'd also rather like bluebell bulbs to be planted too. That would look lovely.

I most definitely don't want to be embalmed, have lots of fillers, or be 'made presentable'. I'd also hate an expensive coffin. Go for simple.

Mind Or Body

If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?

I wonder which 30 year old we are talking about! I am really bad at either/or questions. I want far more information than is presented in the question.

We both have decided our preference would be to reach 90 with bright, sharp, inquiring minds. We would far rather have health, happy minds, than have wonderful bodies,  but only be able to remember memories created long ago.

Could I have an average? Might it be possible to have the body and mind of a 60 year old until I'm 90?

Sing!

When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

Um, I have no idea. I am a singer of silly songs, mostly ones I an in the process of making up as I sing. It's all fun and nonesesne, so I don't pay a great deal of attention. I suspect the answer is 'Within the last 24 hours'.

As for singing to someone else, it will have been on Monday. One of my co-workers sang a line of a song, and I responded with the next line.

I do love it when my Beloved sings to me. He has a beautiful, deep voice, and it feels like a warm embrace.

A Perfect Day

What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?

This is the question that sparked an interest in the whole "36 questions that lead to love" thing. I had managed to plan the first hour of my perfect day, and it was shaping up to be really, well, perfect. It would start around 6-6.30am, with light coming in through the curtains, wakening me from a deep, refreshing sleep. I'd check social media, then snuggle with the Beloved. After a while, Ava would join us. I'd then get up and cycle whilst the Beloved would make bacon and cheese puffs, and a cup of berry tea. I'd have time to have a shower before eating breakfast. Then we'd head out to do something interesting. Rewind, get dress, then head out.

I couldn't decide what would happen next, so I set it aside knowing I would come back to the subject today. However, I've just been listening to David Tennant, Michael Sheen and Neil Gaiman talking about the television adaptation of "Good Omens". The last question they were asked was "How would you spend your last day if you knew Armageddon was arriving tomorrow?" Neil's answer sounded very much he was crafting a perfect for his 3 year old son.

This answer flipped my perspective. For my perfect day, I'd like to spend it with family and friends, doing the things we enjoy, but most of all taking the time to love and care for each other.

Rehearsing Telephone Calls

Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

We approach this a little differently as I am much more at ease speaking on the telephone.

The more important the call, the more I want to ensure I have at my fingertips every piece of information I will require. 

When Will I Be Famous?

Would you like to be famous? In what way? 

We have decided we would not like to be 'recognised in the streets' famous, and most definitely not famous for being famous. We could cope with being famous for the things we do, or have invented.

Dinner Guests

Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest? 

Raconteur polled 400 people, and gave them 3 votes each. They were asked who would be their fantasy dinner guests. The top six were: Mohandas Gandhi, JK Rowling, Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Barack Obama, and Beyoncé.

The Beloved and I have talked, and we would like to invite Stephen Fry, Tim Berners Lee, Ada Lovelace, and Margaret Hamilton. Three of them are/were pioneers in their fields in computing, and Stephen is a very early adopter of all things computery. It would be fascinating group of people to chat with.

I'd also love to have my daughter, Stitch, pop over for dinner. She lives in a different country, and we don't get to spend enough time together. It would be lovely to have her over.

It's Such a Perfect Day

A youtuber mentioned 36 Questions - How to Fall In Love - 36 questions you can ask someone if you want to fall in love, or make your love even stronger). They start out very simply, but the fourth question had me pondering for quite some time, "What would constitute a perfect day for you?"

Thinking about what would be a perfect day is making me rather happy. I'm picking and choosing elements, doubling back, making substitutions, and having a lovely time.

So far, my day has reached breakfast time. It starts with being woken up by the sun streaming into my bedroom, and then very quickly this transitions into snuggles and hugs with the Beloved. After a decent period of time, Ava would transform the snuggles into a dogpile. 

This is the point in my cogitations when the Beloved entered the room with a pot of tea. We started  discussing the questions, and had a lot of fun doing so. We have decided to take one question each day, discuss it, and then I'll blog about it.