when i was a little girl, i had some funny ideas about things. (i was a strange kid!) i remember having difficulty understanding money. once, i had a 5 dollar bill and a 1 dollar bill, and i remember asking my grandfather why both were a single "dollar" but one was worth more than the other. the significance of a printed number made no sense to me. even after he explained that because one had a 5 on it and the other had a 1, the 5 was worth more, it still didn't make sense to me. in my mind, it was the object that had value, not the idea attributed to it. i thought to myself, "well, if thats the case, then if i put a 5 on a piece of paper, why is it not worth more than any other paper?" it got me thinking. the value of things, these days it seems anyway, only amount to the significance that a society agrees it should have, not necessarily the actual value it may have to the society in terms of survival.
there's a lot of misconceptions that we had as children. another one that i always find funny, is that i used to think that people only had babies when they got married. and i thought that the way they made one was through the kiss at the wedding. i couldn't see any other reason for the phrase "you may now kiss the bride." to me it meant that before they got married, you weren't allowed to kiss her. and ideally, traditionally, it kind of should be that way. i dont mean in terms of kissing, but in relationships, a child isn't really the right thing to bring into the world until one gets married. but you know, thats my own viewpoint. growing up, i had kind of a broken family. i lived with my mother, who by anyone's standards, would be considered out of this orbit crazy. when i was 8, my half brother was born, about a year after my mother remarried. and i didn't get along with the new husband either. just before high school, one of my close friends, lindsey, showed me what a real family was supposed to be like. i remember meeting her family and thinking "wow, this makes sense. i want this." she is a big part of the reason i changed so much between childhood and today. because she chose to be my friend, and stand by me, i was able to see the world in a different way, and recognize that not everything is as it should be, but that we can create a life worth living through our actions.
when we were children, our fears and goals were very different from what they are today. i can say that with certainty, and know that it applies to everyone. we each had our own ideas about what life was supposed to be like, what love was and what it wasn't. we all met difficult times and hardships with a sense of shock, because growing up those things dont invade our childhood. no matter what time in your life they did, prior to that, the world was a safe place where you couldn't be hurt or abandoned. and then we learn otherwise. we either learn to overcome it, or we succumb to defeat, walking through life like shadows.
when i was little, i wanted to be a lot of things. the first thing i ever wanted to be was a mermaid. (lol!) and when i realized that it was pretty impossible, i cant say i wasn't disappointed, but i moved on, and decided that i wanted to be an artist. since then, i've thought i wanted to be many different things, a doctor, a math teacher, an actress to name a few. but in my heart, i'll always be that little girl, stretched out on the floor with a piece of paper and some watercolors or crayons, bringing my dreams to life in color.
what are some of the misconceptions that you had as a child? what did you want to be? how did your ideas change as you grew up? what was the turning point? let me know in the comments below!!
- noreen
there's a lot of misconceptions that we had as children. another one that i always find funny, is that i used to think that people only had babies when they got married. and i thought that the way they made one was through the kiss at the wedding. i couldn't see any other reason for the phrase "you may now kiss the bride." to me it meant that before they got married, you weren't allowed to kiss her. and ideally, traditionally, it kind of should be that way. i dont mean in terms of kissing, but in relationships, a child isn't really the right thing to bring into the world until one gets married. but you know, thats my own viewpoint. growing up, i had kind of a broken family. i lived with my mother, who by anyone's standards, would be considered out of this orbit crazy. when i was 8, my half brother was born, about a year after my mother remarried. and i didn't get along with the new husband either. just before high school, one of my close friends, lindsey, showed me what a real family was supposed to be like. i remember meeting her family and thinking "wow, this makes sense. i want this." she is a big part of the reason i changed so much between childhood and today. because she chose to be my friend, and stand by me, i was able to see the world in a different way, and recognize that not everything is as it should be, but that we can create a life worth living through our actions.
when we were children, our fears and goals were very different from what they are today. i can say that with certainty, and know that it applies to everyone. we each had our own ideas about what life was supposed to be like, what love was and what it wasn't. we all met difficult times and hardships with a sense of shock, because growing up those things dont invade our childhood. no matter what time in your life they did, prior to that, the world was a safe place where you couldn't be hurt or abandoned. and then we learn otherwise. we either learn to overcome it, or we succumb to defeat, walking through life like shadows.
when i was little, i wanted to be a lot of things. the first thing i ever wanted to be was a mermaid. (lol!) and when i realized that it was pretty impossible, i cant say i wasn't disappointed, but i moved on, and decided that i wanted to be an artist. since then, i've thought i wanted to be many different things, a doctor, a math teacher, an actress to name a few. but in my heart, i'll always be that little girl, stretched out on the floor with a piece of paper and some watercolors or crayons, bringing my dreams to life in color.
what are some of the misconceptions that you had as a child? what did you want to be? how did your ideas change as you grew up? what was the turning point? let me know in the comments below!!
- noreen
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