Susan Solo – VA/DC/MD Photographer

In my whole life, I’ve never met or even heard of anyone else with my maiden name, Solo, that wasn’t a relative of mine. Okay, besides Han Solo – I get those jokes all the time. So hearing about the United States Women’s National Soccer Team’s goalie, Hope Solo, raises a few questions.

Has my family hidden something from me? Do I have a secret long-lost relative? Do I have Olympic-calibur athletic potential in my blood despite my uncanny clumsiness and penchant for falling down the stairs? I’m not good at geneology, family trees, lineage and all of that stuff, so I can’t even figure out how we could possibly be related, but with a last name like Solo, we must be right? I’m not actually accusing my family of anything scandalous – they would never hide something like that from me. Although…I did only find out a few years ago that our cat, who I considered “mine” when I was three years old, didn’t run away as I was told. My mom actually gave him to a friend of hers when my baby brother was born (he had severe allergies). My sister spilled the beans on a family road trip. I think that was the only major family secret though (and I think they just forgot over the years that I didn’t know the truth about Alex). But if there is something going on, this cat is out of the bag now, too!

Do you ever read something on the Internet and wonder if it’s complete bunk that someone put out there without any credence? I did a search on remedies for mosquito bites and found the following advice: peel a banana and use the inside of the banana peel to rub on the bite. Out of desperation because nothing else was working, I actually went to the kitchen, peeled a banana, and rubbed the skin all over my ankles. I felt pretty silly and I thought, someone could be having a laugh at me for following such weird advice. But to my surprise, it actually worked really well. It was slimy, and then very sticky, but it did stop the itch. So if you’re ever suffering from as many bites as I have, have a banana for a snack and then rub that skin all over your bites. Do this in the privacy of your own home or else risk looking like a total nutcase.