Little Me

Today's writing prompt is "What you were like as a child." This is another tough prompt for me because, again, bad memory.

Also, does anyone really know what he or she was like as a child? I have memories of what I think I was like, and I have stories that have been told about me, but I don't know that I was "like" anything.

I remember being very shy. I am the oldest child in my family -- the only girl with three younger brothers. We were two sets of Irish twins, however, with only 15 months between each set, so I wasn't much older than they were. I played with my brothers almost exclusively when I was under about age seven. In our neighborhood I had two girlfriends, one with whom I went to school, and the another who went to the public school.

As I became a little older I was a book worm. I liked school, but I wasn't terribly bright. I liked to read, but I wasn't very good in math, and I didn't have a memory for science or social studies. I could spell very well, and English came pretty easy. I should have taken note of these facts when I later failed at getting through college with a degree in zoology so that I could go to veterinarian school. My degree in journalism was clearly more suited to my skill set.

I was very close with my brothers and we didn't have a lot of money, so mostly we just played outdoors together until I was a teen. Even then I think I spent most of my time doing gymnastics outdoors because we lived in Florida then (though I was born in Cincinnati) and we played outdoors all year long. We lived simply, and we were innocent. I thank God that I was raised at a time when we didn't even have much to watch on television.

I had a happy childhood, and that, I think, is one of the greatest gifts a person can have. As an adult, I now know all the things that could have made my childhood miserable, even scarring. But, I didn't have a care in the world, and for that I am very grateful.

"If you've had a happy childhood, nobody can take that away from you." Agatha Christie