Amy Eagen

 Do you remember having to write about your 'hero' in school?  I don't remember a specific instance, but I know it happened.  Or you had to tell someone your hero.  Did you have one?  Like an easy and truthful answer to that question? I absolutely did not. Nope.  Not a soul.  I maybe said some shallow celebrity so I could answer and move along.  Whoever I said, it wasn't the truth. I do remember that Michael Jordan was a popular choice for the boys.  The girls?  I guess an immediately female family member?  A teacher?   There was nobody that existed in my realm that I wanted to be like at all.  If I couldn't find fault with someone, my mother definitely could.  Oh no, my mother was not and is not my hero.   I do know that nobody is perfect but there should be someone kind of close to it.  Right?  At least someone that is enough?

 I remember when I was 19 I thought I wanted extra ear piercings, then an eyebrow ring, and then I would allow myself to get some kind of tattoo.  I got the extra ear piercings (one in the lobe and one cartilage).  The extra lobe piercing did not heal well and the cartilage one produced this tiny ball of something when the piercing was temporarily removed.  Both piercings closed within a day.  The want to ever have a piercing again disappeared at that time. When I was 21-ish, I had my boyfriend at that time, design a mash-up of an Athena helmet with Aries rams horns.  This was tattooed on my back and I still love it.  I have since gone on to get two more tattoos with the same theme:  an owl on my wrist and a snake on my ribs.  I still love those tattoos as well.   Randomly before my 41st birthday this year, I ordered some fake nose rings from Amazon.  I was happy because I am currently on a rose gold 'thing' and it included a r...

 I have tried to grow Aloe Vera plants in the past and it was a failure.  I do remember a few people having aloe plants growing up:  my maternal grandmother and a family in the neighborhood. It was definitely my grandmother that introduced me to putting aloe on any kind of wound: scratch, splinter, sunburn, etc.  I think her aloe grew on her screened-in porch.  This was the same area with the porch swing and the patio table where I had a few birthday parties.  I do remember 'snapping beans' on this screened-in porch.   My grandmother had a pretty good-sized garden that paralleled the driveway up to her yellow house on the hill.  I think most of the green beans came from this garden.  I think.  Not 100% certain but there is a good chance.  My grandmother, mother, and I would sit on the screened-in porch and break off a top of the green bean, pull the thread, flip, break off the other end, pull the thread, and then snap the beans...