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Monday, May 08, 2006

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.

10 comments:

Rachelle said...

Start reading again! I don't think there is anything wrong with pretending to be another person. I think people, especially kids, try on persona's to see which one fits them best. I enjoyed reading this. Thanks for participating!

emlouisa said...

What a wild imagination you had, girl! lol!

And I TOTALLY loved the Babysitter's Club books. I still have 1-20 so let me know if you ever get a hankering, haha. I read them a few years ago and laughed and laughed. I read one in an hour!!!

momofalltrades said...

OMGOSH! I was TOTALLY this way growing up too! I read Louisa May Alcott books and Trixie Belden mysteries over, and over, and over! I read every single Black Stallion book ever printed. As I got older, I also had a strange fascination with books about abuse and eating disorders. We would have been best of friends, just sitting there, reading, then acting out our stories...LOL I also did that with any television shows I was allowed to watch. I *so* desperately wanted to be a professional ice skater/gymnast/jockey. *sigh*

Blackeyedsue said...

I did this with Little House on the Prarie. Who wouldn't want to be Laura in the winter making syrup candy or riding in a covered wagon. I just bought all of the books to start reading with my little girl. I can't wait!

beth said...

I love it! I used to LOVE pretending I was a character from my books. For a while I insisted my name was Dorothy to everyone I met so that even my babysitter started thinking it was my name. My parents took me to see a psychologist...

Mall Worker said...

I loved reading when I was younger too. I also loved teh babysitters club! I had so many of them! I used to write my own little babysitter club stories until my friend instisted it was stupid for me to do so. Looking back, she wasn't a very nice friend, hehe.

bon said...

Julie of the Wolves, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The Gammage Cup and all of the Moomen tales? Life is good as a girlfreak!

Blackeyedsue said...

Hey...Tag, you're it! See my blog for details!

Kermit~the~Frog said...

I also loved to pretend that I was the protagonists in the books I read. There was this one about a girl with Leukemia, "Too Young to Die" and I read it over, and over, and over...

Nicole said...

Ah Mary Lennox, I so wanted to be her. That was one of my favorite books.