Five Things You Don’t Know About Me: A Guest Post by Camille Di Maio

I’m on maternity leave! During this time, a few of my favorite authors offered to step up and write guest posts so that this blog would remain active while I adjust to my new role as a mother. I may also be a bit slower to respond. Thanks for understanding and for being so supportive of me, my family, and my blog. Want to donate a few dollars to keep this blog running or perhaps contribute to my diaper fund? You can do so on Venmo or Paypal.

Five Things You Don’t Know About Me: A Guest Post by Camille Di Maio

Author bios tell you all of the pertinent stuff. Family life, the books you’ve written, where you live. But since you can only partially know a person by that brief paragraph, it’s so much more fun to learn some facts that few know. So here go mine.

1. I have three kidneys. I was wretchedly sick as a child and doctors finally had to put me under the knife. Where they discovered…the third kidney. If it weren’t for that event, I would never have known. Interestingly, the doctor told my parents that mutations like that usually come in pairs – and that someday I might discover another extra. And they were right! When it was time to pull those wisdom teeth, I had six wisdom teeth instead of four. Does that make me any wiser? Well, that would be nice.

2. I was an early believer in ecumenism. That is, dialoging with people of different faiths. As for myself, I’m Catholic. But I believe that an essential trait to growing close to God is walking in humility. That that means a constant awareness that there is more to learn. I love being friends with people of many convictions and ascribe to the belief that sitting in genuine respect and openness can be rewarding for both parties. To this effect, I was part of something called The Ulster Project as a teenager. This was during the middle of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. Living in Denver at the time, the program spent a month bringing fourteen Catholic teens and fourteen Protestant teens to the US to live with host families. It was immersive. Every single day, our entire group would engage in an activity – concerts, sports events, swimming, park days, museum trips. At the beginning of the trip, there was a visible divide between the factions. At the end of the trip, everyone was blended into an amazing harmony. Many of those friendships exist today. I got a chance to visit our teen (now a radio star!) in Belfast a few years ago, the perfect bookend to an experience that continues to rate as one of the best of my life.

3. Writing my debut novel, “The Memory of Us”, was fueled by Dr Pepper. A good Texan girl (fourth generation in the Lone Star State!), a blood draw in my early thirties might have found some in my veins. And at that time in my life, I had my fourth kid in diapers and a ragingly busy real estate business. So my best writing hours were about 10pm to 3am. I am also a snob about Dr Pepper. If you use a period after the “Dr”, I will know that you’re not a true Texan. If you try to pass off Mr. Pibb as a substitute, I’ll consider it sacrilege. I’m about as chill and peaceful a person as you will ever meet, but if you challenge me on this subject, it’s on! (Side note: Sugar doesn’t come off the hips as well in the late forties as it did in earlier ages, so water is now my go-to drink. But, oh, the memories.)

4. I embroider tapestry pillows. I’ve made eight so far, and each takes me about a year and well over ten thousand stitches. As much as I would love to knit or crochet, I cannot keep a straight line or make a ribbed pattern to save my life. But tapestry – I can do that. As such, I’m also passionate about rugs. I will turn over a rug and see if it’s hand-stitched and even count the stitches per inch, marveling at the exquisite detail and unimaginable work it took to create it. They are wonders of the world, in my view.

5. My favorite job I’ve ever had was being a grocery store cashier. Festival Foods in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. Even today, when I’m in line, I’m a little jealous of the cashier. I LOVED this work. Every month, the manager ran a Fastest Cashier award ($25 gift card to the store), and I won every time. So it became the Fastest Cashier Except Camille award. I loved memorizing all of the produce codes and would even occasionally dream them in my sleep. And I especially enjoyed visiting with the customers. Grocery store shopping is a chore to most people. The bar is low. So it was my goal to elevate their experience. I love the Mother Teresa quote, “Let no one come to you without leaving better or happier.” This was my motto as a cashier, and a motto I try to keep alive today in all of my endeavors.

Five Things You Don’t Know About Me: A Guest Post by Camille Di Maio