This meme came to me by way of  Candid Karina

I’m posting the answers to her interview questions here on my blog.  Anyone I interview will post the answers to my questions on their blog.

Ok, here we go:

I’ll start with the question I’m asking everyone, which is: Tell us the why and when of your blog. When did you start and why did you start?

The Internet came into my life in late ‘98. I remember a lot of sites like women.com and Ivillage were giving members space to create their own sites. I made my first site at women.com. Every page was a different color with every animated graphic I could find online.

Eventually women.com and other sites like it stopped the free web hosting. That was just about the time I saw my first identifiable blog. It was at Xanga. A free easy to update online journal that came with a community of people. Why not? I started my own that very afternoon.

Since then I’ve had a lot of blogs at a lot of places. I left Xanga after about a year and a half and went to Angelfire. While my blog was at Angelfire I let my friend Heart read it. He loved it, and that gave me the confidence to expand a little. I went to Square Space and then Blogger. While I was at Blogger I created a second blog just for memes. I moved both blogs here to WP, and added one for creative writing. My Photostroll site is over at GoDaddy, and my mobile and audio blogs are at Blogger.

I was brought up in a very business-oriented family. Artistic endeavors, other than sewing, were not encouraged. Blogging has allowed me to be as artistic as I want to be. All I need is my laptop, digital camera and cell phone.

She Who Blogs came into being in May of this year. It’s been an experience that only gets better as each day goes by.

I’ll be blogging till they carry me away to my grave. I’ve always said I want my headstone to read Have A Great Time Wish You Were Here. Love, Frances. A web address just may be added to that.

It seems I’m also asking this of all the bloggers who are married, I wonder if it means anything about me? Hmm…Anyway, tell us about your husband. How did you two meet? How did you know he was the one?

My husband and I met in the summer of ‘82, by the cigarette machine in my dad’s grocery store. We sold our cigarettes for only a dollar; everyone else charged a dollar twenty-five. We both smoked at the time.

Our first date was July 4th, and we decided to get married two weeks later. We were in our own apartment by August 18th. We’ve been together ever since.

He gave up cigarettes ten years ago; I still sneak a few now and again.

I know you recently wrote about your daughter in Sunday Scribblings, but here is your chance to really brag about her. Tell us all about her.

My daughter will be 25 on April 30th. She’s been married for three years now.

I guess every mom thinks her kid is the best, and I’m no different.

If I had to pick one incident that would show you the kind of person she is it would have to be this:

It’s Audition Day at The High School of the Performing Arts. The lobby is jammed with anxious parents. My daughter is led away from me, and I want to grab her leg and hold on.

Every girl seems be a size four blonde in jeans and a tank top. My daughter is size twelve with long auburn hair reaching her waist. She’s wearing a black pleated skirt, a blue top, stockings and heels. Her dress for success outfit.

It’s about 8am. The chair I’m sitting in is regulation uncomfortable.

The clock is ticking. No cell phone. I try to read, but I read the same page over and over again without knowing what it’s about.

None of the parents are talking to each other. It’s like we’re all competing or something.

9. 10. 11. Noon. I’m told that I can go for lunch and come back.

What’s going on down there?

Kids who completed their auditions have been dribbling steadily out. There’s hundreds of kids. I hope she’s going to get a chance to be seen.

I’m slipping in and out of meditation at this point. It makes the time go by much easier.

The big hand is on the 12 and the little hand on the two. Six hours in the same chair. Nope gotta do something.

Get up and head casually for the ladies room. The security guards turn to talk to an anxious parent.

Window of opportunity. Gotta act fast.

I’m through the stairway door so fast I shock myself. At the bottom of steps is a big metal door that I inch open slowly. Good no one is in the hallway. I slip out and walk slowly down the hall. Each of the dark wooden doors has a little window; I just want to see her. If I see her I’ll be okay.

By the third door I see her. All the kids are practicing scenes outloud as they wait there turn to audition. Each is in their own world. My daughter is sitting on the floor with a young girl who is sobbing. My daughter pats her shoulder and whispers something in her ear. She sits back against the wall, the girl wipes her eyes picks up her playbook and begin to read outloud. My daughter’s smile makes her smile.

Tears fill my eyes now, as they did then.

I creep back down the hall, and up the steps. As I come through the door, a security guard says “No parents allowed downstairs!”

“I’m looking for a ladies room.”

“Oh, right over there ma’m”

“Thanks”

Two hours later my daughter was accepted as a student at the school.

Really, how do you do it all? You have…is it 6 blogs now? And you run SheWhoBlogs (and do it very well, I might add). And from your posts I know you live a busy “real world” life as well. How do you do it?

When you love what you’re doing, the way I love what I’m doing, it just happens.

Tell us something about “your” New York. I just love reading your posts about your days in the city, tell us a little something.

My New York is waiting for me right outside my door every morning.
Like a good lover it always has a little surprise and never disappoints.

I often just wander the streets, taking pictures and stopping in little cafes and stores.

There’s always someone to talk to, something to do, something to see.

If you’d like to be interviewed let me know via the comments section.

Sending bloglove to you all.