Yesterday's post just wore me out emotionally so I combined Wed and Thursday's prompts for today. Pardon the scatterbrain.
Describe a favorite place. Focus on how that place affects your senses.
One of my favorite places to be is my living room. Sounds silly I know but really? It's where a lot of our lives takes place. The kids snuggle with us there, we watch hockey there, eat dinner a lot in there. I look around my living room and it makes me anxious sometimes seeing the mess but if it were perfectly clean, I would feel weird too. I kinda like the chaos of the room. Call me crazy but it makes me really feel at home. I mean I know it's my home but it's home ya know? A couple laundry baskets are always in there, the sock box is constantly overflowing, partners never to be found thanks to the hungry hungry dryer. Messy and resembling tornado alley but I love it.
What is the moment that you leave childhood and enter adulthood?
When I was 17, we moved to Germany thanks to the U.S. Navy. It was the summer between junior and senior year. I was moving to another country. I would be going to a Dept of Defense school. With kids from all over the world. To a place that wasn't English speaking as a first choice. I felt so lost and out of it for the longest time. I knew not to screw up, get in trouble, etc. I knew that, even with my dad's rank and all, if I messed up, I would be kicked back to the States. Even worse, my father could be sent back to the States.
I knew from the beginning how important this was to my dad. I knew not to screw it up, not that I ever would. I was too chicken shit to do anything naughty. Well, for awhile I was. I made sure I graduated high school and while "home" over the summer, I knew I had to go back. I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to travel, experience different cultures, people, places and yes, even though I am the pickiest eater there ever was, the food.
Moving to Germany absolutely made me feel as if my childhood was in the past. This was big time. These kids were more sophisticated than me. Way smarter than me. Some of them, way snottier than me. I knew I would never fit in with most of my classmates. I was ok with that.
When I was little, being an only child meant that I was always looking for someone to play with. It also meant that I was around adults far more than any of my friends. I was always talking to my dad's friends, mom's neighborhood friends. I talked like an adult long before I became one myself.
My being an only child kind of took that idyllic childhood away in some senses. Moving to Germany absolutely made me feel like I was embracing my young adulthood. Going to The Netherlands, France and all over my birth land made me realize how lucky I was to enter such a crucial time in my life while experiencing things most people won't do ever in their lifetime.
There's still a kid in me. There always will be that little girl hanging out, having a giggle here and there. I grew up pretty quick and Germany helped me become, what I think, a great young adult.
So thanks Deutschland! Thanks for the obscene amounts of Asti champagne and Jose Cuervo! I don't remember a lot of those first few months. But I kind of dig the adult I am now.
aaaaaaaaaaaaand das ist alles. Guten Nacht
Describe a favorite place. Focus on how that place affects your senses.
One of my favorite places to be is my living room. Sounds silly I know but really? It's where a lot of our lives takes place. The kids snuggle with us there, we watch hockey there, eat dinner a lot in there. I look around my living room and it makes me anxious sometimes seeing the mess but if it were perfectly clean, I would feel weird too. I kinda like the chaos of the room. Call me crazy but it makes me really feel at home. I mean I know it's my home but it's home ya know? A couple laundry baskets are always in there, the sock box is constantly overflowing, partners never to be found thanks to the hungry hungry dryer. Messy and resembling tornado alley but I love it.
What is the moment that you leave childhood and enter adulthood?
When I was 17, we moved to Germany thanks to the U.S. Navy. It was the summer between junior and senior year. I was moving to another country. I would be going to a Dept of Defense school. With kids from all over the world. To a place that wasn't English speaking as a first choice. I felt so lost and out of it for the longest time. I knew not to screw up, get in trouble, etc. I knew that, even with my dad's rank and all, if I messed up, I would be kicked back to the States. Even worse, my father could be sent back to the States.
I knew from the beginning how important this was to my dad. I knew not to screw it up, not that I ever would. I was too chicken shit to do anything naughty. Well, for awhile I was. I made sure I graduated high school and while "home" over the summer, I knew I had to go back. I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to travel, experience different cultures, people, places and yes, even though I am the pickiest eater there ever was, the food.
Moving to Germany absolutely made me feel as if my childhood was in the past. This was big time. These kids were more sophisticated than me. Way smarter than me. Some of them, way snottier than me. I knew I would never fit in with most of my classmates. I was ok with that.
When I was little, being an only child meant that I was always looking for someone to play with. It also meant that I was around adults far more than any of my friends. I was always talking to my dad's friends, mom's neighborhood friends. I talked like an adult long before I became one myself.
My being an only child kind of took that idyllic childhood away in some senses. Moving to Germany absolutely made me feel like I was embracing my young adulthood. Going to The Netherlands, France and all over my birth land made me realize how lucky I was to enter such a crucial time in my life while experiencing things most people won't do ever in their lifetime.
There's still a kid in me. There always will be that little girl hanging out, having a giggle here and there. I grew up pretty quick and Germany helped me become, what I think, a great young adult.
So thanks Deutschland! Thanks for the obscene amounts of Asti champagne and Jose Cuervo! I don't remember a lot of those first few months. But I kind of dig the adult I am now.
aaaaaaaaaaaaand das ist alles. Guten Nacht
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