Nerdy Apple Bottom

Here is the first of my interrogations. I answered about half of the questions received and will answer the others in another post. Questions can be emailed to me (nerdyapplebottom at gmail dot com) , posted on the Facebook discussion page, or tweeted to me @nerdyapple.

Melissa Squires Lee asks:
What’s your favorite thing to do in KC? When we visit my sister, going to Crown Center for the day and running through the fountains is a favorite of ours. :)

CW: We like to go to the zoo, the Nelson-Atkins, the drive-in, Science City, really everything. We like to just do things. Doesn’t really matter what it is, we will try anything once.

ules asks:
Did you have a fun birthday? Did the Detective pick up on any of your hints and get you what you wanted? =)

CW: I did. He bought me a cover for my Kindle that didn’t fit. Which was perfect. I love him to death, but he always gets me something VERY close to what I want, but not quite. He also took me out to a delicious dinner at Marina Grog and Galley where I had lobster. I heart me some seafood. Oh and book shopping afterward.

Georgina Candia asks:
Have you ever consider get involved in politics? If not I think you should

CW: You obviously didn’t know me in high school or college. ;) I’m pretty sure I would not pass the vetting process. But thank you!

mj asks:
Happy birthday! Hope you had a lovely day.
My question is: how do you not let the negative comments get to you? I’ve followed Boo’s story and the buzz and while so much of it is encouraging, the few hateful words are upsetting.
Since I’m gay, and it took me years to come to terms with that, I guess I take the comments personally…but it’s your son they’re attacking so that’s personal. Then again, maybe sometimes the comments do get to you.
And thank you for sharing your story and showing the world what real love and acceptance looks like.
Those of us who have felt so much rejection have been really touched by you.
Which brings me to another question…how did you get to such a place of acceptance? Wayne asked if you have any family members who are gay…I wondered the same…or close friends?

CW: Firstly, thanks so much for the kind words. To be honest, I did take a few of them personally at first. Then I realized that those hateful comments are really statements about the commenter than they are about me or my son. People that are going to spew hate are hateful, not me. I will never love people calling me a bad mother or my son various terrible names, but I know that we are not those things. Does that make sense? Plus, there were so many more kind words than negative. And those really touched my heart, made me stronger.

As to how I got here - no idea. Luck?

Wayne Minich asks:
I enjoy reading your posts and the comments from others.

1. Do you have anybody in your family (or the cop’s) that are gay?
2. Had you experienced bullying first hand as a child?
3. How did you first meet your husband? How did he propose to you?
4. How many questions can I ask before you get confused??
Thanks for being a F*U*N blogger, yet offer something that can be debated and queried… It’s difficult to blog with shallow deep thoughts… or is that deep shallow thougths??
Wayne Minich
Harrisburg, PA

CW: 1. My initial thought was no, but then I think that has to be wrong. I mean, don’t we all have someone in our families that is gay? I think we probably all do whether we know it or not. And that makes me a little sad. It is heartbreaking to me when I think of all the people that are or have lived a lie out of fear. So I will say YES. There are people in my family that are gay.
2. I was bullied at various times for various reasons. I moved around quite a bit so was often the new kid. That usually makes for an easy target. I was made fun of for braces and being flat chested and for being an apartment kid and having divorced parents and for being a smart kid and for being extremely fair-skinned and for being scrawny and I’m sure a ton of things I may be blocking out. Fortunately, I was never tormented and had the gumption to not let it bother me too badly. But that isn’t how it is for so many of us - then and now.
3. I met my husband in college. I worked at a music store with one of his roommates, and he worked at a different music store with my ex-boyfriend. We knew each other for a couple of years before we started dating. And there wasn’t a big proposal. It was more of a ‘huh, let’s get married.’ The big, sappy, romantic.
4. 3 and thanks for the kind words.

Enid-Raye Adams asks:
Have you spoken to the women who originally caused this situation regarding the costume at preschool and if so, how did those conversations go? Any apologies on their part at all?
All the best,
ER Adams

CW: I have not spoken to them. Boo was at that preschool after the Halloween debacle up until the last meeting I had with the pastor, so about 4 months. One of the mothers chose to take her child out of the preschool in November so we’ve not seen each other, but the other two were at drop off and pick up everyday like I was. No, there were never any apologies.

Matt asks:
i’m curious about the answer to Enid’s question…
but also, on a similar note… with all this fame and Boo transferring schools, has he been treated any differently by his peers both in and out of school?
have any of your other children found themselves treated differently because of the incident?

CW: Boo is treated like any other 5 year old. He loves his new school, but misses his previous teachers a lot. He still sees his friends from the other school. We have all made a point of getting the kids together. I have not told his new school about all of this so I’m not even sure what if anything they know, but they treat Boo just as kindly as they do all their students. My daughter is so excited about all the opportunities this has afforded us and tells her friends and teachers about it all the time. She is a kind old soul and would never let anything go to her head or allow someone to try to talk down to her about her brothers even before all of this. And my Squirt doesn’t take crap from anyone about anything so he’s not changed a bit. Though he does ask to go to New York City almost every weekend.

LuAnn asks:
What is your favorite companion of Dorothy’s as she walked along the Yellow Brick Road? (I have a theory everyone has one, which reveals personality.)
Do you snack at night?
What is a great way to celebrate your birthday in a few days?

CW: Wow, throwing me a curve ball. I will say the Tin Man - he wanted a heart. I think if you have heart, the smarts and the courage can come. If you truly care about something it makes you learn all you can and forces you to stand up for it. I wish we all had more heart. The world could do with a tad more love, and by a tad, I mean scads! I’ll need to hear about this theory.
Yes, unfortunately I do snack at night (and all during the day) - usually salty stuff.
A great way to celebrate my birthday would be sleeping in, a couple of fresh cups of coffee in bed while reading, heading to a movie or the zoo or a ballgame with the family, a yoga class maybe, a nap, a nice seafood dinner, followed by drinks with my girl friends.

cagey asks:
I know that you are a reader and I also know that we seem to have similar tastes. What is your favorite book of all time? To be kind, I’ll let you list 2 or even 3. :-)

CW: Yowza, that’s hard. I have a wide variety of tastes. I will say hands down, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is my favorite book. Others that I have greatly enjoyed: Steig Larsson’s Milennium Trilogy, Hunger Games Trilogy, The Alienist, The Thirteenth Tale, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Harry Potter series, and I’ve gone WAY over the allotment.

OHN asks:
My husband is in the same business that yours is…..I was just wondering how you handle the cop attitude that can sometimes spill over into the home life. Have you ever had to utter the phrase “I am not one of your dirt balls from work, don’t talk to me like that” ?

CW: I have said things like ‘how can you remember a suspect’s address from 7 years ago and still forget that I don’t like sweet potatoes?’ And really, he’d have to be home more often for me to get too irritated with him. Crime does pay if you count the Detective’s overtime.

Ok, that’ll do for now. If there is anything else you’d like to know, send me a message. I hope this is enjoyable for you, dear readers, as it was actually quite fun for me. Bring. It. On.