From Sampler to Sower

Anyone who’s on Facebook has probably seen the 25 things meme that’s been spreading like wildfire over there.  I myself was recently tagged, as was friend and fellow blogger Todd.  Not to be outdone, I succomed.  Here are my 25 things, reposted for your enjoyment.

Photo courtesy of annamon on flickr

1) I find this incredibly difficult, given the fact that there are no indications about the information you desire, simply a number of facts requested. Where do I start? What do I include? See, told you it was tough.

2) Start at the beginning. I come, on my mother’s side, from a long line of educators. My maternal grandparents, my mother, all her siblings, and a good number of their spouses, have all been teachers at some point or another. So is my only brother.

3) I come, on my father’s side, from a long line of Buhro’s. My father, my father’s father, my grandfather’s father, and my great-grandfather’s father all had the surname “Buhro.” I suspect that pattern extends even farther back. However we’ve been unable to confirm that given the fact that my great-great-grandfather emigrated from Magdeberg, Germany and during World War II all records there pertaining to my family appear to have been destroyed.

4) I am an oldest child. I have a younger brother. I do not, however, have a smaller brother. I was a small child, my brother was not. I think it was in third grade I started getting “hand-me-ups” from him. I am, though, quickly catching up to him now that I’ve reached middle age – a fact that I’d like to change.

5) I love food. I love to eat good food. I love especially to cook good food. My father is a bit of a gourmand a trait both my brother and I have inherited. That makes changing the previous fact difficult.

6) I am an avid reader. In elementary school, I actually got in trouble for reading too much. (I’d sneak books into class and hide them in my desk so I could read while the teacher was talking.) I still do. (It’s so much more enjoyable to read than to do the dishes or mow the yard. Audible.com is helping with that.)

7) I am a minister. I first sensed that God was leading me into the ministry when I was about 7 years old. (I distinctly remember when it happened, it’s just been so long ago I don’t remember precisely how old I was. If anyone knows when the Kendallville Church of the Nazarene met in the town’s Recreation Center because they were remodeling the Williams’ Street sanctuary, it was then. I just don’t recall what year that was.) I can’t really remember when I didn’t know I’d grow up to be a pastor.

8) I am a husband. I married my wife, Michelle, in June of 1995, the summer I graduated from college and the summer before her college graduation. We met, however, when we were both in elementary school. Different schools, different towns, but the same “district.” We went to churches of the same denomination in the same area and we met at a children’s Bible Quiz meet. It was _not_ love at first sight. I remembered her as “that one red head who was pretty good” and she remembered me as “that one boy that always beats me.” (I do tend to sense some bitterness there.)

9) We started dating when we were both Juniors in high school. We did attend the same high school, and by that time her family had begun attending our church. We dated for five years before we got married.

10) I proposed to my wife in a cemetery outside Portage, OH. It was the same cemetery in which my grandfather (the maternal one, not the Buhro) proposed to my grandmother. That’s why, not because I’m creepy like that.

11) Cool story though: I had taken her to the now defunct “Sea World Ohio” for the day. One of the things you could do there was buy a cup, and a pearl diver would dive down and select an oyster for your cup. You then take the oyster to be shucked, and any pearl inside you get to keep as a souvenir. Our oyster had two pearls in it. I had one custom set into a diamond necklace and gave it to my wife on our honeymoon, because I am romantic like that.

12) I am a father. I have five children. Four boys, one girl. The boys all have the same initials as I – Brenden Riley, Brett Reid, Bryce Ray, Brock Rhys. The girl has the same initials as Michelle – Mackenzie Ashe.

13) My children were all so named for reasons other than simply because we liked the name. Brenden, Brett and Bryce were all named after hockey players (Shanahan, Hull and Salvador, respectively.) Brock’s middle name comes from my favorite actor in my favorite movies, John Rhys-Davies, and Mackenzie is named, in part, for my second favorite female detective, Kinsey Millhone. (Sally Kimball didn’t start with a “M”).

14) I don’t think Michelle has any idea why I suggested the name Mackenzie.

16) One of my greatest regrets is that I never succeeded in talking my wife into naming one of our sons Benoit.

17) I am not only a father, I delivered one of my sons. No kidding. Brett was born at home, in the bathroom. And no, we didn’t plan for a home delivery. My wife wasn’t convinced it was labor. And she’s an RN who has spent her career working in OB. Brett was born so fast I didn’t even have time to call 911 until after he was born.

18) I am a nerd. Always have been a little socially awkward, and fascinated by factual minutiae. My speech coach in high school nicknamed me Alex because I tended to wear suits and ties, and always carried a briefcase. Yeah, I am nerdy like that.

19) I am a geek. I’ve always been fascinated by computers, from our old Apple IIe that I used to write text based RPG’s for as a child, to college, where I was one of the first people to carry a laptop, all the way to the present where I’m not only youth pastor but “tech guy” for my church. I have not, however, had any classes of any kind in computing. It’s all self taught.

20) My goal one day is to retire and buy a home on Neebish Island, MI, in the St Marys river just downstream from Sault Ste Marie. When my aforementioned great-great-grandfather came to America they settled in the Sault. I still feel at home when I return there. It’s one of my favorite places in the world, and one of my favorite things to do is watching the ore boats go up and down the river. I love the winter. I love the cold. I want to retire to Neebish Island.

21) That said, I went to Florida for the first time since childhood this last fall. Stayed on the Gulf coast. Fell in love with it. Still dream about sleeping to the sound of the waves on the beach and the birds in the air. I hate crowds, so I’d hate to live there. But I’m sadly desperate to vacation there again in the off season.

22) Umm, I’m running out of things to say. Does that count as a random fact?

23) In high school I made money as a professional clown — parties, parades, balloon animals, magic tricks and the like.

24) In college I worked as a traveling vacuum cleaner salesman. Of course back then we weren’t supposed to call them vacuums. They were air filtration units with convenient cleaning attachments. Seriously. I sold Filter Queens in the Chicago suburbs. I quit because I couldn’t handle the guilt from selling people something they couldn’t afford.

25) I tend to take shortcuts when I think no one will notice.