5 things that not many people know about Ben

Alright, so since Whitney wrote the 5 things people don't know about her, I feel obligated to do the same. And although I don't have red spots on my rear from cheer leading,

1) Deep down inside I have always wanted to be a woodsman. I spent the adolescent to teen years of my life romping out in the woods in our backyard on Bryrwood Drive in Aberdeen, Washington. Aberdeen was established in 1884 and flourished as a logging community until the population reached a whopping 16,000 when my family arrived there in 1987. All over the town there were pictures of macho loggers standing on trees. Thus, I spent my after school hours with my brother (and sister sometimes) climbing on the highest trees we could find, seeing how big of a stick I could break over my head, and pretending like I was king of the woods. I knew those woods like the back of my hand. Yep, if I can manage it, I will always live near the woods.

2) Many people know that my sister and I had the privilege of driving a grey 1986 Chevy station wagon to and from school. What many people don't know is that we hit a deer with the wagon on our way home from Olympia once and never got the hood fixed. So the poor car, for the rest of its life, had a scarred mean-looking face. We ended up calling it the Slayer. The Slayer went through some huge trials but always came out fighting. Its fame grew so much that one time when my father had a business meeting with a random guy many miles from Aberdeen, the guy asked my father how the Slayer was doing. He was flabbergasted. The Slayer lived in glory till it completely died while my sister and I were at college. We laid it to rest, giving it up to the Kidney Foundation. That day was a sad one indeed.

3) When I have extra time, which is not too often these days, I love to do activities that to the rest of the adult world may seem mundane or childish. For example, after Whitney and I were recently married I suggested that we go and buy some poster board, markers, crayons, and coloured (British spelling) pencils and then put on some music and just draw all night. Whitney humored me and since then if I can't sleep or if I have a minute and I am feeling artsy I will put on my drawing music playlist and add to my masterpiece. It's going to win us some big money at an art show some day.

4) I have obsessive compulsive tendencies when it comes to cleanliness, mostly with dishes and counter tops. My brother would get frustrated with me when we were kids and it was my turn to wash the dishes because he would want to go out and play together (in the woods of course) and I would be at the kitchen sink for hours sometimes. Whitney will get mad at me sometimes because our kids will need to get out of their eating chairs or get ready for bed and I am standing there at the sink doing the dishes. I am in my own little world there where everything is made shiny and new again. Sometimes I just can't tear myself apart from the brilliance of my kitchen.

5) I have had two nicknames in my entire life. Both of them came from the ol' high school wrestling days. The first was given to me by some of my teammates during my sophomore year who, after they saw me running my heart out on the last leg of our 50,000,000 mile run warm-up run, told me that my legs were going crazy. Yes, I was CrazyLegs for the rest of the season. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing the ones who gave me that title were BEHIND me on that run. The only other nickname that I have been given is The Energizer. My senior and final year as a high school wrestler was very competitive. Most of the competitors in my weight class had wrestled each other before. We knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. Each of my matches was a fight to the death. I had the record that year for the most overtime AND double overtime matches. So thus, The Energizer was born. I cannot say that I won all my overtime matches that year, but either way those guys were exhausted after their bout with The Energizer.

I wanted to put some cool pictures of me in the woods and me with some play dough and the Slayer and me in a singlet (just kidding) but the scanned pictures weren't working so well. Whatever.