Meme: 5 Things

I discovered the other day that Jean of this too tagged me last week when I wasn't looking. I enjoyed reading her post and some other lists of "5 things you might not know about me." I was taken with Marja-Leena's story about her childhood artist's garret. It reminds me of the cozy cedar closet I had when I was five. My mother hung a little lamp inside and, in its pool of yellow light, I sat in a chair sized just for me, reading for hours at a time.

Five childhood memories:

1. Lying in bed in Paris, feverishly ill for two weeks, green wine bottles filled with hot water lining the bed underneath the sheets for warmth.

2. Two of us making elf dinners out of lichen and moss pollen, served on acorn caps, among the Vermont boulders not far from the bubbling, foamy creek.

3. Swallowing a friend's red Barbie doll shoe. I was just rolling it around on my tongue and next thing I knew it was gone. Vanessa wanted it back. She didn't get it back.

4. The priest — the imposing, huge one who drove a motorcycle with black cassock billowing out behind him — who got me interested in learning Hebrew.

5. Eating an open-faced peanut butter sandwich topped with jam and a bee. Ow.

If you'd like to be tagged for this meme, consider it done. Just let us know in the comments that you'll be responding.