Lasting Childhood Memories
I just turned 31. It's a wierd age. I feel simultaneously old and young, kind of like I have ever since I turned 17, but more so. Maybe it's my recent birthday that's making me introspective, or maybe it's the fact that we're finally starting seriously to talk about having kids of our own. Or maybe those are linked somehow. Whatever it is, I'm starting to reflect on what it is (was) to be a kid.
I'm sure I was a highly unusual child. My parents have told me since that I was impulsively introspective and analytical. I don't know if other people have discovered things the way I did, but I thought I'd start a list of childhood traits, discoveries and misconceptions that I can remember from nearly 30 years ago. I'll add to it as stuff comes to mind.
(This may turn into a serial post. And then a book deal, and eventually global renown. Finally! It's taken me so long to figure out how to go about achieving it!)
::I remember the day when I was three or four that I discovered that I could move my eyes independently from my head. I remember intentionally holding my head still with my hands and looking around the room in amazement at this new trick I could perform. I'm pretty proud that I discovered that -- I'd obviously been doing that for years up until that point, but who actually discovered that themselves.
::It was pretty close to that time that I discovered that I swallow pretty regularly, even without putting anything in my mouth. I wondered if other people did that too, and what it was that I was swallowing anyways...
::When my stomach gurgled I used to think it was God talking to me. In the faith tradition I grew up in, it wasn't uncommon for people to talk about God talking to them in their heart, and I thought that's what was happening to me. Unfortunately though, I could never understand the message the first time, and I could never get God to repeat it.
::I remember watching the news on TV, and hiding behind the couch to pick my nose. The newscasters were looking right at me, so I assumed that they could see everything I did, and I was informed that nose-picking is rude. Come to think of it, that probably started a kind of paranoia that existed for at least the first decade-and-a-half of my life. I'm over it now. Honestly. I think big brother is great! [vacant smile, blink, blink]
::I was sitting in church one time, bored out my bracket I'm sure (as any 9-or-so-year-old is apt to be), and I suddenly became aware that if I focussed on something close, the things in the distance doubled, and if I focussed on the things in the distance the out-of-focus stuff in the foreground doubled. That troubled me -- I thought my eyes were broken. It turns out, it's just a natural consequence of having two eyes...
::I had an imaginary friend. His name was Batchi. (I had a very exact spelling for Batchi that I can't for the life of me remember, but that's pretty close. I will also never know where that name originally came from.) He was the persona of my teddy bear that gradually became disassociated with it as I grew out of stuffed animals, and more internalised. I had an imaginary peanut gallery too, and they would mock and scoff if I did something dumb. Come to think of it, they never really very supportive of anything I did. Sometimes Batchi would side with them, and sometimes he would tell them to shut up. He wasn't very predictable. Man, if I start to get loopy in the last chapter of my life...!
::When I first learned the alphabet, I thought the letters l, m, n & o were all one letter. It must be the biggest letter I figured because it has such a long name, but of course saying "elemeno" simply got me positive reinforcement. No-one can see inside my brain. Luckily. For them!
::My Mom told me one day that we can count forever. I was entirely doubtful about that. Doubly so when she tried to prove it by counting to ten. It seemed all to finite for me. (What was I, four?)
I'm sure I was a highly unusual child. My parents have told me since that I was impulsively introspective and analytical. I don't know if other people have discovered things the way I did, but I thought I'd start a list of childhood traits, discoveries and misconceptions that I can remember from nearly 30 years ago. I'll add to it as stuff comes to mind.
(This may turn into a serial post. And then a book deal, and eventually global renown. Finally! It's taken me so long to figure out how to go about achieving it!)
::I remember the day when I was three or four that I discovered that I could move my eyes independently from my head. I remember intentionally holding my head still with my hands and looking around the room in amazement at this new trick I could perform. I'm pretty proud that I discovered that -- I'd obviously been doing that for years up until that point, but who actually discovered that themselves.
::It was pretty close to that time that I discovered that I swallow pretty regularly, even without putting anything in my mouth. I wondered if other people did that too, and what it was that I was swallowing anyways...
::When my stomach gurgled I used to think it was God talking to me. In the faith tradition I grew up in, it wasn't uncommon for people to talk about God talking to them in their heart, and I thought that's what was happening to me. Unfortunately though, I could never understand the message the first time, and I could never get God to repeat it.
::I remember watching the news on TV, and hiding behind the couch to pick my nose. The newscasters were looking right at me, so I assumed that they could see everything I did, and I was informed that nose-picking is rude. Come to think of it, that probably started a kind of paranoia that existed for at least the first decade-and-a-half of my life. I'm over it now. Honestly. I think big brother is great! [vacant smile, blink, blink]
::I was sitting in church one time, bored out my bracket I'm sure (as any 9-or-so-year-old is apt to be), and I suddenly became aware that if I focussed on something close, the things in the distance doubled, and if I focussed on the things in the distance the out-of-focus stuff in the foreground doubled. That troubled me -- I thought my eyes were broken. It turns out, it's just a natural consequence of having two eyes...
::I had an imaginary friend. His name was Batchi. (I had a very exact spelling for Batchi that I can't for the life of me remember, but that's pretty close. I will also never know where that name originally came from.) He was the persona of my teddy bear that gradually became disassociated with it as I grew out of stuffed animals, and more internalised. I had an imaginary peanut gallery too, and they would mock and scoff if I did something dumb. Come to think of it, they never really very supportive of anything I did. Sometimes Batchi would side with them, and sometimes he would tell them to shut up. He wasn't very predictable. Man, if I start to get loopy in the last chapter of my life...!
::When I first learned the alphabet, I thought the letters l, m, n & o were all one letter. It must be the biggest letter I figured because it has such a long name, but of course saying "elemeno" simply got me positive reinforcement. No-one can see inside my brain. Luckily. For them!
::My Mom told me one day that we can count forever. I was entirely doubtful about that. Doubly so when she tried to prove it by counting to ten. It seemed all to finite for me. (What was I, four?)
Labels: inspiration
1 Comments:
Deb::One of my memories of being a kid was thinking that people who used their hands when they talked were SO COOL that I decided to start doing the same (I was 4 or 5 at the time). Everytime I wanted to say something, I would circle my hands in front of me (kind of like twiddling your thumbs, but with my arms). Eventually, I realized it was entirely ridiculous, but the habit had become so ingrained that I couldn't help it. Whenever I'd realize what I was doing, I'd cross my arms and hope no one noticed...and that's why I never talk with my hands and always have my arms crossed...The End
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