So who is this Kerry Putman person this website belongs to? Well, my story starts many, many years ago…
No, I’m not going to make you read my entire life story, but I’d like to give you a little insight about me so maybe you’d want to stick around. I’m going to borrow an idea from Samantha Irby’s book of essays Meaty and answer a few awkward first date questions.
Name/nickname: Kerry. No nicknames ever. Don’t really need one with a name this short.
You were named after: My mother told me she picked randomly from a book. Remembering how much my mother liked to read, I can believe it’s from a book. It’s the randomly part I don’t believe.
Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? I should hope so, since I married him. Pretty soon we’ll have been together 25 years, and it’s hard to conceptualize that I’ve managed anything for that long.
What were you doing three hours ago? Napping. Naps are essential for the chronically ill. Wish I’d taken more over the years and felt less guilty about the ones I did take.
What is your favorite cereal? I am addicted to several flavors of Cheerios, which I never ate as a child. My current bad habit is eating a bowl every morning around 3AM because I keep waking up famished.
What is the first thing you notice about people? Their eyes. People can hide a lot on their faces or in their body language, but it’s hard to keep the truth out of your eyes.
Who do you miss the most? My parents. There’s never a good age to die, but my mom definitely died too young. I think about her every day. My dad, who I had to keep at a distance for my own sanity, lived much longer and I miss him much more than I thought I would.
What are you listening to right now? BTS. Yes, I’m a grown-up; why do you ask? Seriously, though, BTS and their music got me through some dark times with chronic illness, menopause, and the pandemic. I’m completely their ride-or-die now.
Summer or winter? Winter, but that’s easy to say when it doesn’t get that cold in Alabama.
Hugs or kisses? Hugs, especially big bear hugs from a certain bearded (still mostly) redhead.
What are your favorite smells? Cucumber and green tea. Whichever sorcerer came up with that scent combination really had my number.
What book are you reading now? Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Are you afraid of the dark? No. I am afraid of bridges, which I didn’t know bothered anyone else in the world before I read an article about the people who attend a narrow bridge somewhere in the Midwest and have to sometimes drive people’s cars over the bridge for them.
If you could wish for one thing, anything you’d ever wanted, what would it be? To be able to travel with my husband and our dog to any point on the map at the snap of my fingers. I’m sure he’d pick Pompeii first, while I’d have to choose between Iceland and New Zealand. Our dog doesn’t care where he goes as long as there are treats involved.
So, tell me some of your awkward date answers. Are you secretly afraid of bridges like me?