Never is a Long Time

I love the never have I ever game. It is a great drinking game, but also a great ice breaker when I'm the company of people who are otherwise strangers. It's a good trust building exercise for coworkers and a way to better get to know each other.

I don't usually jump on other people's bandwagons, but I am feeling stuck for a topic today so I'll try.

I used https://randomwordgenerator.com/ to generate ten random words and will now write about whether I've ever or never done any of these and the circumstance during which they occured or didn't.

Document

Many images spring to mind reading this word. Birth certificates and drivers licenses. Immigration papers and passports. Marriage licenses and X-rays.

I worked in an orthopedic surgeon's medical office and had to document the patient's office visits in order to bill insurance.

I worked in a law office assisting clients to gather all of the necessary documents to receive long term care insurance for their elderly relatives.

I needed a birth certificate to get not only a driver's license but also a passport.

I think the first passport I had was when I traveled with my mother to Argentina.

The first passport I remember having was the one I got when we moved to Germany when I was 9. The last passport I got was when I traveled to Laos with my family in 2018.

Falsify

Oh, yes. I've falsified many things in my lifetime. Starting with changing my report card grades to copying homework on the way to school, falsely claiming to have worked hard and completed it myself.

Railcar

This word takes me back to Germany. Not only did I travel by train to my swimming lessons every week from Rissen to Wedel (both cities in Hamburg, Germany), but we traveled from Germany to Italy by train.

More recently, in 2015 I traveled by train from Texas to Chicago to visit my friend for a week. I got a sleeping car for that trip. It took a very long time to arrive in Chicago. There were storms and tornados. I was on that train for so long that after I got off the train. for the next 2 days I was still wobbly. I would get very dizzy when I was walking. It only lasted a few days but have me a great excuse to sit and drink wine. Who knew I'd it was the railcar or the wine making me wobbly!

Pupil

This word has two meanings. One is a student and the other is a part of the eye.

Not only have I been a pupil, but I've been a teacher, too. My pupils were adults who wanted to learn to read or pass a high school equivalency test or wanted to learn English as their second language.

Sleeve

When I was 14I doesn't pay off the summer with my paternal grandparents in Springfield, Missouri. My Grandma Juanita wanted to teach me to sew. We chose a lovely rose colored material and picked a pattern of a blouse. First came the tracing. Next came the pinning and cutting. Finally came the sewing. Grandma set up the thread and the bobbin (I've never learned how to thread a needle on a sewing machine). She explained the pedal. She demonstrated turning the material asking the lines of the pattern. I was ready! I carefully sewed my blouse and was eager to try it on. I pulled the house over my head and put one arm in its sleeve. I got stuck! I couldn't put the other arm through because I had sewn that sleeve shut! I never sewed with a sewing machine since!

Condition

This word also conjurs two meanings in my mind. There are more definitions, but the two that strike me are "with strings attached" and "untangled hair."

My mom is famous for giving but with conditions. For example, "I'll give you this gift but you must use it in the manner I see fit. If you don't use it in this manner, I will take it back."

The other definition relates to my very long hair. My hair is below my waist. It's difficult to brush it because it tangles so easily unless I condition it with a special shampoo. We used to call it "cream rinse" when I was little. But now it's just called "conditioner."

Banana

My daughter claims Gwen Stefani taught her to spell this word. You can listen to it here.

As a runner, I cherished the banana for it's potasium until I learned that an avocado actually has more potassium. I'm the United States we are accustomed to long, yellow, seedless bananas.

But in S.E. Asia, the bananas were short with big seeds in them.

When I was little, living in Los Angeles, California I would walk past many banana trees. I always wanted to pick one but was deterred by the huge spider webs and thick undergrowth. There were systems of banana trees in my neighborhood.

Science

Science is one of my favorite things. Not only was I raised around science and scientists, but science helps explain the world around us.

My stepfather is a nuclear physicist. He worked at Desi in Europe smashing atoms together to prove the existence of quarks. It's why we moved to Germany in the first place. He is also German.

Science gave me the opportunity to live in Germany and attend German public school for four years. Although I didn't know it at the time, that's a priceless opportunity. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Cruel

I would like to say never have I ever been cruel, but that would be a lie.

I've been cruel to friends and family. I've been cruel to myself. The world is cruel as is life. I was brought up with cruel "jokes" that were never funny - they were hurtful.

The most cruel I have every been had been to myself. From putting harmful substances in my body to speaking cruelty to myself. I am guilty of this even now as I sit and write this. I'm smoking a cigarette. I'm also, not to far in the back of my mind, berating myself for smoking. This is the one word whose activity I regret the most.

Snuggle

By far my favorite. I like to snuggle with my husband or my dogs or my cat or my goats. I snuggle with baby rabbits and my turkey. When none else is around, I'll snuggle into my blanket and hug my pillow. For such a funny looking word, it is a great activity.

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I was inspired to write this article by reading https://read.cash/@Jane/neverever-d6610047

Please feel free to come play along!