Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Me

 

In one week my blog will turn 1 year old.  I feel like I should have a party.  I decided to do something fun before then and share 10 things you didn’t know about me.

 

1.  My first name is America, but I’ve grown up going by my middle name Janeth.  In elementary school and high school, kids made fun of me whenever a teacher mentioned my first name.  I would turn beet red and put my head down.  No one taught me the beauty of my name; I just knew I was named after my mother, who is also America.  I didn’t have a story like some teased, about my parents dreaming of coming to America, hence naming me such.  Nope, that wasn’t it people!  All of that changed, after 9/11.  Sadly, it took a horrible event like that attack on our country, to make people feel my name was patriotic, beautiful and unique.  “You should use that name, not Janeth”.  After security laws made names more legal, I was forced to change my name to what my birth certificate said, America.  Prior to that, I was able to use Janeth as I pleased.  While I still tend to go by my middle name, I am always at least A Janeth Paez or AJ in corporate America.

 

2. I am a Jersey girl through and through.  I descend from a mixed Latina heritage, Peruvian and Guatemalan with big Cuban influences, but my heart started beating in the garden state.

 

3. When I was 13, I thought I wanted to be a nun.  I lived down the block from St. Mary’s our Catholic church and through the years after my first communion and confirmation, I grew close to the nuns.  After an event in the convent, I was sure I wanted to live there and be one of them.  Obviously that didn’t happen, as I bloomed into a normal teenager a few years later.

 

4. I have 5 half-sisters and 2 half-brothers.  6 of them through my dad, 1 from my mom.   I didn’t get to meet some of them until after I was 7 and we’ve had some great weekends together.  All of that stopped after a few years, but I still have a lot of love for them.  My sister BG and I grew up in the same house though, so we had years full of sibling rivalry. J

 

5. I love Halloween like it’s nobody’s business.  One of my old posts talks about why, you can find that here, The Skeletons in my Closet.  When the movie, The Nightmare before Christmas came out in 1993, I was hooked all over again and so my love for Halloween just grows and grows, it never gets old.

 

6.  I am afraid of flying.  I love to travel but hate going up in the sky.  When my son, who is currently 7 years old, told me he wants to live on another planet when he gets older, I tell him to stop bugging and never leave Earth! He’s so unafraid, it frightens me.  I love him to pieces, my first born, my papi lindo.

 

7. I really believe my little girl is going to be a superstar.  She is 4 and fabulous.  She loves to sing and dance and can’t get enough of a camera.  You’ve probably seen her in videos I’ve posted of her singing and dancing.  One day she’s going to be a star.  My precious miracle baby, who almost wasn’t.  I wrote a short story about my emotional and difficult pregnancy with her during a writing class but changed our names.  It was actually the very first post on my blog, so what better way to commemorate the one year then by having you read that here, Faith Delivers Hope, a Mother’s Tale.

 

8. Old School R&B and Jazz makes my heart sing.  My first concert was to see the marvelous Phil Perry and Howard Hewett.  I can listen to Luther Vandross, New Edition, Surface, Babyface, Peabo Bryson, After 7 and Mary J Blige all day, every day!

 

9. I am a worry wart.  I have gotten lot better but I worry that I’m not good enough, not a good enough mother, not a good enough writer, not worthy.  A constant struggle that many of us go through.  I try to stay conscious about the bad thoughts that cross my mind and battle them with good thoughts to stay positive.  My friends may tell you I am the one to try to make them look at things on the bright side.  Sometimes I need someone to do that for me.

 

10.  This blog has changed my life.  One year ago I was feeling unsatisfied with where I was in life.  I have a goal of writing a book so last year I took a class at a local college for writers.  I didn’t want to lose my momentum after that, so when a friend casually mentioned she was blogging, my eyes opened wide, my ears perked up and I got excited.  In the Motherhood full of Dreams was born and over this one year, I’ve won passes to blogging conferences, learned what twitter parties are, found out about the power of the hash tags, met so many amazing bloggers, made relationships that feel like true friendships and I feel exhilarated when I write.  With the encouragement of my husband, my friends and some family, I jumped in head first.  I’ve recently been able to write for a few other sites and it feels so good!  I am following and enjoying my passion on the side because I work in Corporate America but I am happy.  I feel energized and motivated.  I am so grateful to you that read and comment on my blog.

 

Thank you so much for stopping by and learning a little more about me.  I could have added a ton of other things but this is just the beginning.  Let me know which of my top 10 things you didn’t know about me surprise you the most.

 

A Janeth Paez