Have you ever given thought to key things about who you are and how or what made you that way? One of my favorite bloggers wrote a book about what makes her tick and how she became who she is. I have purchased her book but haven't read it yet. I will, soon too. I'm actually very excited about it, but have to finish my current book first. If you've never read her blog, you better do it.
There are several things about who I am as a grown up that are unintentional results of my childhood. I have come to these conclusions over the last several years as something triggers my recollections:
1. I don't like to throw things away that I no longer need that are still good. My husband likes to do dump runs when I'm not home, because If I were home I'd take half of it back and try to convince him to let me have a yard sale. "It's still good! Someone might want it!" is my argument. This is a result of being poor all through the first 2/3 of my life. When you work hard for the things that are yours, it can be hard to let them go even if you don't need them anymore.
2. I have an uncontrollable need to be accommodating due to an incident at girl scouts once when I was around 8 years old. I was left out of eating ice cream on root beer float night because I do not like root beer. I remember asking the troop leader if I could just have some ice cream and she said okay, only I didn't get any because they ran out and I had to WATCH everyone enjoy their floats- including the troops leaders. Scarred. For. Life.
3. I *really* love & respect great guitarists. My mother played guitar growing up and apparently had a huge impact on my musical tastes. I totally dig rock music. I get nostalgic when I hear Crosby Stills & Nash, and Foreigner
4. I am Wonder Woman. I bought an apron to help me out when I'm feeling stressed and need a boost. It makes me awesomer. I grew up in a single parent household since infancy. My mother never remarried, and barely dated. She did everything on her own, and I feel like I need to as well. But really I need to feel like I am able to do things on my own, because that's how I saw it done.
5. Major holidays included the whole wide family, and there was a feast to be had. I miss this. We are spread all over now that we are grown and don't get together nearly enough. Thanks to Facebook though we all keep in touch fairly regularly!
6. German Shepherds make me very nervous. I was 5 when I witnessed my best friend get attacked by our neighbors dog. It was on Halloween in 1985 and I remember watching my mom pry the dogs mouth off my friends face.
Tell me about you. Can you recall a specific instance in your childhood that is still with you?