It’s my turn in this very fun series of posts. I hope the readers of this blog are enjoying this as much as the writers of it are.
I met my husband, Jerry, poolside at my apartment complex. When I entered the pool area, the only empty lounge chair was next to him. Before long I was drawn into a conversation with him and another person. Later I asked him to tell me when my 15 minutes of swimming laps was up (the clock was small and hard to see). He let me swim quite a bit over 15 minutes before I caught on. Our wedding was nine months later.
When Jerry and I married, I wore the wedding dress first worn by my oldest daughter Micki two years earlier. A year after me, my youngest daughter Jennifer also wore the same gown. It looked different on each of us because we’re different heights and body shapes. (Could not easily find Micki’s photo so had to settle for just two.)
Robin’s wedding on left (with Jerry) | Jennifer’s wedding on right (with Robin)
My mom always told me my first word was “horse.” I don’t know if that is true, but my love of horses has been a constant throughout my life. The summer I was 15, I worked as a carhop in order to save up the money to buy my first horse. I rode bareback everywhere because I didn’t have the money to buy a saddle until about ten years later. And, just for the record, I passed on that love of horses to daughters and oldest granddaughter, all of whom own horses today.
Robin with daughter Jennifer
I’m a late-in-life, very-part-time college student, inspired by my daughters who both earned their Bachelor Degrees (in Science, no less!!) in recent years. My goal is to earn my own degree before I need a walker to go up to get it during the ceremony.
Micki (with Robin) | Jennifer (with her four kids)
I wrote my first two and a half books longhand on yellow legal pads (beginning in March 1981) and typed them on the office typewriter during lunch hours and coffee breaks. I bought my first computer (monochrome screen, no hard drive, two 7.25″ floppies) the month my first novel was published and learned to use it while entering the first half of my third book.
My Coming to America series was born when I visited Ellis Island and began imagining what it would have been like for my Irish, English, and Swedish ancestors to immigrate to America. So I created characters from each of those countries, bringing them through the Ellis Island experience, and then letting them settle in Iowa, Montana, and Idaho.
The Coming to America series
I was born again on Valentine’s Day, the perfect holiday for a heart to be transformed.
One reason my heroines know how to swoon is because I am a swooner. The first time I fainted I was four and a half years old. I ran out of the bedroom on Christmas morning to see if Santa had come, saw the presents under the tree, and passed out cold. No harm done. But the last time I fainted (summer 2010), I was quite a bit older than 4 1/2 (understatement). I blacked out, and during the fall, I broke my ankle in three different places (the surgeon called it “shattered”). Not as much fun to tell that story.
Robin with her brother Rick, the Christmas following the first fainting spell
I grew up in a high desert valley (Boise) that butts up against a mountain range, and I honestly grieve when I cannot see mountains, at least in the distance. Plus I think any humidity over 35% is too much, whether the temps are warm or cold.
6th grade, spring recital
I took ballet for over six years and can still do a not-so-bad, little-old-lady version of an arabesque, tour jeté.
Now, what are some things we might not know about YOU?
Robin Lee Hatcher
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Loved all these facts (and photos!) I knew some of them (we’ve been friends a long time!) but you surprised me with a few! Next time I see you in person I’m going to ask you to do an arabesque! 😉
In my head my arabesques are still quite lovely. In reality…
I wanted to study ballet so badly when I was a kid. Lucky you for doing it! Great stories!
Never too late, Lynn.
I took ballet lessons and on the way to final rehearsal for my first recital, our car skidded on wet pavement and hit a large tree. I was thrown through the windshield onto the hood of the car. Needless to say I didn’t dance again for a while.
Oh, how awful! Hope you made a full recovery, even if it took time.
Fun tidbits, Robin! LOVE that bustle you’re sporting in the ballet picture! LOL. I grew up in California, so I completely understand the mourning that comes when you can’t see mountains. We don’t have anything larger than small mounds here in West Texas, but every once in a while a thick fog bank with roll in with low-hanging clouds that show the sky above and I can trick myself into believing there are mountains in the distance.
LOL on the cloud bank looking like mountains.
I so enjoyed learning these facts about you, Robin! I, too, was a girl who LOVED horses.
I don’t think you ever take the love of horses out of the girl once it is planted there.
I, too, love the mountains. I live in the woods (which I also love) but the North Georgia mountains are not a far drive. 🙂 And I feel your pain with humidity. I live outside Atlanta, where humidity is its middle name. Argh!
Cheryl, I used to think high humidity was anything about 25%-30%. Then I began to travel, and I learned what real humidity is. Okinawa is 100% at times. Like breathing in a fish bowl, IMHO. But I think Washington DC is the worst of all the places I’ve been, including Miami, New Orleans, and Atlanta. Those are the hot humidities. For cold humidity, the Seattle and Portland areas put that cold in my bones and I can’t warm up without a long soak in a hot tub.
I am a paraeducater and love working with children especially the littlest ones.My husband is a semi-retired teacher but he is also a very talented cartoonist.He recently created a book of his cartoons with Amazon.The title is “I Still Contend That We Live In A Finite Universe.”by Doug Grundy.In past years he has had his cartoons in several different magazines the most recent being Woman’s World.This is a 2nd marriage for both of us we have been married almost 10 years and have 3 boys and no grandchildren as of yet.I really enjoy this blog.Robin I have read your coming to America series and other books and really enjoy them.You are a very ambitious lady going to college and writing books
.I think we share a love of dogs as well.
Hi, Diana. Thanks for sharing some facts about you and your husband. Yes, love of dogs is something we share, but I didn’t think that counted as something people wouldn’t know given Poppet’s pictures are frequently featured here and elsewhere.
I enjoyed reading your ten Robin! Unlike with the others I’ve read so far, I have nothing in common with you, lol. No desire whatsoever to go to college. My husband and son have bachelor degrees and my daughter, DIL and SIL all have master degrees. Doesn’t bother me a bit that I’m the only one with just a high school diploma.
LOL! I love to learn, but I confess that college and writing full time has its challenges. Still, this is a goal I am loving working toward.
I am enjoying learning more about all of my blog-mates! What a diverse group. My turn will come soon. I’ll have to dig up some pictures!
Robin, I didn’t know you loved horses so much. I’ve always wanted to learn to ride. Maybe one day. Fun information!
Me, too, Lenora. I can’t wait to read everyone else’s 10 things and see their photos (photos were the hardest part). I learned to ride at the age of six. My friend had a horse, and we neighborhood kids would climb on Midnight’s back, sometimes five of us at a time, and ride all over creation. It’s hard to remember that there was a time when kids roamed that freely. I’ve had lots of horse mishaps, including a broken tailbone when my horse startled and spun and I went flying.
Robin, I enjoyed reading your ten things.
My family is now in the midst of getting their degrees, from associates to Ph.D. I haven’t really done much toward mine through the years, mostly just a course here and there as the mood strikes. Maybe this year I’ll start.
There has to be a story behind your wedding picture, it is so curious!
I have really enjoyed reading your books, too.
God’s Blessings!
Oh, there definitely is a story from that wedding photo. Here is a very abbreviated version: Jerry was so nervous throughout the ceremony, but he started joking and enjoying himself the minute we were pronounced man and wife. I had handed him my beautiful bridal bouquet and had turned away from him and then the photographer and others started laughing. I turned, and there Jerry was, pretending to be in a casket. So I did a woe-is-me pose, and the photographer snapped us. Such fun!
Aww, how cute! Thanks for sharing.