my life monday

I didn't know it...but it's also:
Rachelle issued this assignment (she is a teacher...she issues assignments) and from now on I'm going to participate and change my "What Do You Love" days to another day of the week. I don't know when yet...it will be a surprise.

Today's Topic: My Most Memorable Childhood Experience. I've been thinking about this topic all morning. I even looked through my photo albums hoping something would jump out at me, but nothing really did. I have a lot of little tidbits of memories and such, but no real memorable childhood experiences and nothing with a lot of detail. This isn't really an experience so much as an insight as to how I was as a kid---but it'll have to do!

I was a weird kid that tried desperately to be normal. One of my teachers even gave me the award for "Best Attempt at Normalcy during Adolescence" in Middle School. I know all kids are weird to an extent, but I think I was really weird. I also loved (LOVED) to read. I read so much that my mom would try to get me to stop in the same way that most parents try to bribe their kids to read more. I made a goal in Elementary School to read all of the books in the school library (I didn't make it). I read for hours on end---in my room, in the bathroom, at the dinner table... I tell you all this to prep you for the following experience:

I don't know when I started or when I stopped doing this, but I liked to pretend that I was the main character in the book I was reading. I read a lot of The Babysitter's Club series and tried to start my own Club. I also tried to be a babysitter like them. I failed in both attempts---nobody can be as cool as them!

I found the book Death From Child Abuse and No One Heard at a neighbor's garage sale and read that book at least a dozen times. I don't know why I was so fascinated by it, but I would pretend I was the little girl while I was reading it. The step-father in the book wouldn't allow the little girl to use the bathroom and punished her when she would have an accident. So, while reading it, I would hold my pee until the very last possible second. (See, weird.)

The Secret Garden was one of my all-time favorites and while reading that one, I would pretend to be Mary Lennox---especially as she discovered the great outdoors. I would wolf down my meals like she did in the book and then run outside hoping to experience what she had.

I'm sure there is some underlying issue that I must have had, but luckily I outgrew it and I've stopped trying to be someone else. Unfortunately, I also stopped reading like I did. That's one thing I wouldn't mind picking up again.