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Saturday, October 4, 2014

Strange Children

If I were to list how I was as a child, you'd question my sanity.

I'm going to do it, anyway.

I took things apart. Clocks, telephones, tape recorders, radios, a typewriter, and anything else I could get my hands on. I never put them back together. I just wanted to see what was inside.

I hid in closets waiting for my mom and brother to look for me until I, eventually, fell asleep. I don't know if they looked for me or not.

I folded foil chewing gum wrappers onto my teeth to pretend I had orthodontic braces.

I poked the lenses from cheap sunglasses to pretend I had prescription glasses. (Future Nerd, here!)

I folded cellophane tape around my fingers to pretend I had long, glamorous fingernails. (Future Karsdashian, here!)

I unfolded wire hangers, stretched rubber bands across them and played the 'harp'.

I had a talk show. I had a variety show like Carol Burnett. I was a prima ballerina who also tap-danced like Ginger Rogers but never made it up onto my toes...it hurt.

I wore t-shirts on my head to have long hair like Cher and the Barbie dolls I didn't own.

I sat backwards on the closed toilet seat and created Chemist's experiments with whatever fluids, powders, and granules we had in the house.

I would find the smallest place as my go-to place to read my books...Again with the closets.

I rowed boats from the inside of empty cardboard boxes.

I drove cars from the same box.

I would lie underneath our Christmas tree looking up at the lights for hours.

I punched the buttons on old house phones in numerical order, 1-2-3, 11-12-13, all the way up to over 1,647...possibly more.

I dreamed of exploring old decrepit houses with many floors and many rooms, just to see what was there.

I listened to old music and watched old movies that were definitely out of my age-range, even foreign ones.

I had to jump around on the furniture to avoid the 'hot lava' on the floor.

I'd lie under tables to read my comic books.

I decided I wanted to be a botanist in 3rd grade. Even after I'd lost interest, I continued to say it because it seemed to amuse the adults in the family.

When my mother tried to tell me about menstruation, I asked, "Do you mean like administration?"

I have  a scar on my chin from being held by my older brother, yelling for him to let me go. He did.

My favorite place to go was up a tree in the middle of Lincoln Park in Chicago.

My favorite food was fried rice mixed with cole slaw.

I never had a favorite color. Still don't.

I had  'crushes' at 7 years old on Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson.

I can remember crying uncontrollably when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. I didn't know why. I just knew it was sad.

I'd also cry every Easter when I saw a crucifix, at Christmas, and whenever people talked of Jesus.

I liked having "P" parties where you buy all things that started with a "p", like potato chips, popcorn, peanuts, Pepsi, pickles...you get the idea.

My least favorite place to go was the Laundromat. Although, I'd often imagine what it would be like to be inside of the rolling drum of the automatic dryer.

I thought my Grandparents' bedroom was a mysterious place, especially their closet where Paw Paw's old saxophone sat dusty and un-played for so many years.

I envied Pippi Longstocking's life.

I could go on. I won't.

I think my imagination has served me well into my adulthood. I'm more observant, can anticipate actions of others, and can still amuse myself.

Why do we grow up and leave our imagination behind? We shouldn't let that happen. It makes us feel immature or 'goofy' if we give in to impulses once we are grown-ups. We shouldn't let that happen, either. The children around us are thinking, feeling, considering, imagining, creating private little worlds, and they should never be discouraged. You never know what may come of it.

If you noticed, I didn't mention a video game, cellphone, store-bought toys or computers. Curiosity must stay alive and well in us all and our Free Spirits kept alive or we risk becoming those 'bored', boring, sad, angry, unsatisfied people that no one wants to be around.

Challenge? Do something silly today. Reboot.





 

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