Incredible Woman #27 - DeNae Handy. Monday's Questions.

This week I'm featuring a very hilarious woman - I stumbled onto her blog the other day. It made me laugh. Out. Loud. I made me so happy, that I couldn't stop reading. I learned quite a bit about her from the blog. It's called "My Real Life Was Backordered". So, here she is... DeNae Handy. (don't forget that we'll be posting 2 questions/answers each day of this week, so come back often to learn about this fun woman).

KARA: "Introduce yourself to our readers – (hobbies, talents, likes, dislikes, etc.). What makes you an incredible woman?"

DeNae: "Well. I'm 45 years old, and I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. I'm married to an FBI agent, and we've lived in Seattle, Washington; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and currently we reside in Las Vegas, Nevada. My hobbies tend to correlate with my talents: I love reading, so I do a lot of writing. I love music, so I teach and write music. I love learning, so I do a lot of teaching. (Any time you have to know something well enough to teach it to someone else, you learn a LOT about that thing!)

My likes and dislikes are so provincial I'm practically an honorary Philistine. Good food, prepared by someone else. Books that make me laugh and think, and which I can recommend to the folks at church without having to avoid eye-contact forever after. Lunch with friends. Staying up late, talking with my husband and dreaming about the 'empty nest'. Shopping with my sisters. A great classroom discussion about things that matter to people. That's my life; it's the air I breathe."


KARA: "Tell us about your family. Tell us one incredible thing about each member of your family. Are your kids as funny as you are?"

DeNae: "I have four kids. My oldest is 22, and served a mission for our church in South Korea for two years. He's smart and sensitive and looks like Michelangelo carved him out of marble. Although I do wish he would shave more regularly.

Next is my 19-year old daughter, who is a lot like me. Which means we do great as long as we aren't both in "Queen Bee" mode. She's musical and artistic, and is the most "in the moment" person I've ever known. We're different that way; sometimes it's aggravating, but in my more reflective moods I see how unique she is, how able she is to act on those divine impulses that we so often push aside almost reflexively.

Next is a 17-year old daughter, who five days after she was born nailed me with a look that was so old, so knowing, it completely freaked me out. Hormones and deep spiritual bonding should never be mixed. Like sheep and cows. She's also very bright, and in many ways was born 40.

Finally, my youngest is 14. It would be so easy to define him by his one difficulty, but he is so much more than that. He is incredibly smart, very sweet and loving, and probably the funniest and most "out of the box" thinker of the family. Does his having ADD contribute to that? Probably. The big challenge has been helping him succeed in quantifiable, tangible ways, without breaking that unique spirit. It's quite a dance."

See you tomorrow!