I’ve written before about how I believe small details about a person can reveal huge swaths about their essential nature. Once in a while I happen upon a question that I think uncovers this kind of truth. Usually the question is about something really tiny. But somehow, in the glittering detail it reveals about a person, I think I can glimpse the shimmer of the whole universe that sparkles inside of them. Sometimes I like to ask these questions on twitter. I’m curious as to how some of you would answer them, too.
– If you are married, do you and your spouse have anything engraved inside your wedding rings? If so, what?
– Have you broken bones? A lot, or none? Which?
– Who is your favorite fictional character of all?
– If you are (or have been) married, what was the first dance song at your wedding?
– What was your very favorite book when you were a child?
Do you agree with me that small details about people can provide windows into the expansive sky of their souls? How would you answer these questions?
Most definitely! All very telling…
1. Our initials and the date.
2. No broken bones.
3. Scarlett O’Hara
4. True Companion
5. Little Women
I’d love to hear your answers too!
1. no engraving (i hope it is a cultural thing)
2. no broken bones ( Knocking on wood. When i was a kid my brother broke his leg, tough ordeal!, thankfully he is fine now)
3. Dostoyevski
4. no song (buddhists are not very romantic:))
5. Andersen’s fairy tales. I still love them.
1. “You’re my favorite.”
2. No broken bones, save a stress fracture in my big toe.
3. Anne Shirley
4. “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”
5. A Ramona book, probably.
xoxo
yes, love what these simple questions always reveal…
• no engravings inside our wedding bands
• left arm (my writing hand) when I was 4-years-old
• one of my favorites is hermione granger from harry potter
• wedding song was “with you I’m born again”
• a favorite book was little women (loved jo in this book and on ‘fact of life’ tv show)
I know you have probably answered these questions repeatedly, but wondered if you were also willing to share. thank you for this playful, soulful exploration, lindsey. xo
1. No engraving
2. Yes, a leg and a couple fingers
3. Scout Finch
4. Shameless
5. Where the Red Fern Grows
Nope, nope, Samwise, The One by Lambchop, ALL books 🙂
I absolutely agree that small details can reveal so much, and as a wrter, this is essential. When you’re writing fiction you need to show your reader the character, let them figure out who the character is rather than telling them. At my first few workshops with Pam when we went around the room and introduced ourselves we had to say who we were and one concrete physical detail from our lives, and those details that people shared and the language they chose to describe those details revealed really intimate things without saying them.
1. not married
2. never a bone but definitely my heart and the heart of another
3. Lucy from Waltzing the Cat
4. I Love You from Climax Blues Band
5. Are you There God, It’s Me Margaret, Judy Blume
1. KH to JDM 6-11-83
2. one chipped bone from hitting a tree skiing, lots of torn ligaments from other ski adventures.
3. Huckleberry Finn
4. No memory what our first dance was! That’s what 29 years of wedded bliss does.
5. Hands down, the Little Princess. And in fact, Sara Crewe might be a close 2nd in favorite fictional characters. Loved loved loved how she was a voracious reader, and devoted to her father, and brave about being sent away to boarding school, and stoic about being reduced to the role of the scullery maid living in the garret. I loved how she had her whole pretend world to sustain her. I love that she learned to be stronger than the evil people around her, by not revealing her anger to them. Her silence was her power. For the painfully shy girl I was when I read that book, Sara Crewe was my hero.
I rely very heavily on my instinct on people – how I feel, not what I hear or see. My instinct has served me well and when I’ve chosen to ignore and disregard, invariably I have been proven my first instinct is right. Maybe I subconsciously catch those little things.
Answers:
– Not married but when I was, nothing
– I’ve shattered my elbow, broken my foot, broken multiple toes, some multiple times, and a whopping six concussions!
– Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone – She’s quirky, protective of herself, independent, drives a VW Bug, insatiable curiosity, ignores the rules to suit her purposes all for good intent.
– If you are (or have been) married, what was the first dance song at your wedding? Thank You by Led Zeppelin
– What was your very favorite book when you were a child? The Wizard of Oz
1. We don’t have rings
2. Collarbone – bunk bed incident. 6 ribs – football incident
3. Snoopy because he’s smart and funny = the perfect man
4. We did not dance at our wedding
5. Anything by Judy Blume
Yes! I do agree with you, so much so that I came up with the idea to create a resource around it called Deep Speak to get people sharing around these types of questions. In reality though because we were limited to 120 questions there are a lot of broader questions in there as well. It is so true that the sharing of answers to “little” questions can reveal so much and also gives us the opportunity to create deeper connections with each other.
http://www.innovativeresources.org/Pages/Our_Publications/Card_Range.aspx?id=6f383027-a220-4e83-9116-e08ce8e9725d
My answers to your questions are –
No engravings inside wedding rings
Never any broken bones
Amelie Poulain
“You Look Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton. My husband played the guitar and sang it to me
The Secret Garden and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Thank you for your wonderful site Lindsey, I’ve just discovered it!
Oooh fun questions! “what’s your favorite book and poem” are suspiciously missing…
1. Nothing engraved, but hubs designed ring with sapphires all ’round
2. No broken bones, unless you count a toe. Slipped in a puddle of Scotch on my back steps. Not my own puddle of Scotch. In case you were wondering.
3. This is hard. Maddie Hayes comes to mind.
4. Sinatra, of course! The Way You Look Tonight
5. Chronicles of Narnia or Bobsey Twins. Dead tie on that one.
Wow – what fun to read these! I loved the little answers that provided big windows.
My answers:
1. nothing
2. no broken bones (knock on wood)
3. Anne Shirley
4. Someone to Watch Over Me
5. Anne of Green Gables. Delighted to see ‘The Secret Garden’ and ‘A Little Princess’ on others’ lists. I am reading The Secret Garden with my daughter right now and enjoying it so very much!
Initials and date
Collarbone, multiple toes
Jo in Little Women
Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong)
Little House in the Big Woods
One thing I didn’t expect in marriage was that my husband would have a completely different set of books, not the girl centric ones, but picture books. He’d never heard of Ferdinand for goodness sake!
1. none
2. none
3. Jane Eyre, Scout Finch, Jo March and I could go on….
4. Van Morrison’s Moondance
5. Frog and Toad, Little Woman and all Judy Blume
I’d also add
6. What is your first memory?
7. Milk or dark chocolate?
8. How many books do you read at once?
9. Do you make your bed?
10. What is your favorite season?
Oh, what excellent questions!
6. I remember the dark velvet curtains in the first apartment that we lived in in Paris, on Rue Brea, and sitting in a slant of light through the window with my toddler sister. She had a runny nose, and we were building with plain wooden blocks.
7. Dark all the way
8. One book at a time
9. Always, always, always.
10. Spring
Oooh, fun!
1. no engraving
2. I have broken a cornucopia of various toes. Often.
3. Ramona Quimby
4. No song–we eloped!
5. Harriet the Spy