Ten Things You (Might Not) Know About Patti

10. Patti has traveled to over sixty countries. Her favorite places? Split, Dubrovnik, Istanbul, Kyoto, Munich, Odessa, Cadiz, and Kandy, Sri Lanka.

9. When she was 16, Patti lived in Sri Lanka as an exchange student. When she flew there, it was her first time on a plane.

8. Patti has studied several languages, including Mandarin Chinese, Russian, French, and Sinhalese. 

7. As a result of #8, Patti can say “There’s a small brown dog” in Russian, “He’s at the zoo” in French, “My freckles don’t hurt” in Sinhalese, and “I drink American beer” in Chinese.

6. In college, Patti worked at Wendy’s. Because she had bright red hair, she was occasionally tasked to dress up as the mascot Wendy at public events – including one at an ice skating rink, which was interesting, because Patti couldn’t ice skate.

5. Patti once wore pajamas to interview Stevie Wonder.

4. Patti has been a vegetarian for the past 42 years, but after she had a heart attack in early 2016, she switched to a whole-foods, plant-based, no-oil lifestyle. As Patti puts it, “I eat nothing with eyeballs, a face, or a mother.”  

3. Secretly, Patti has always wanted to be an elementary school principal, because she had a particularly awesome one when she was a kid.

2. Patti spent her childhood afternoons at her daddy’s barbershop, sweeping up hair and playing school in the back room. What she didn’t know is that all the men waiting for haircuts could hear her playing school for hours because of an air-conditioning vent that led directly from her “school” to the church pew on which they waited. Evidently people started vying for 3pm haircut appointments so they could continue “learning.”

And the number one thing you (probably) don’t know about Patti is …

1. Patti stayed in touch with Mrs. Smith, her fourth-grade teacher, for over 40 years. Every time Patti traveled, she mailed Mrs. Smith a postcard. Her teacher kept them all and made a collage of 40 years of Patti-travels. After Mrs. Smith’s death, her daughter sent a yellow glass bird to Patti as a reminder of their long friendship. It sits on the windowsill above Patti’s desk.