Mini-Me~

This is my three hundred and fifteenth blog post !  Yay me!
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I know I chatter on far too much.  But if you only knew how many things I want to say, and don't......~ Anne of Green Gables

I'm sure my mother despaired of me doing ANY -THING   three hundred and fifteen times , when I was growing up.  Well, anything really constructive anyway.  I could definitely leave my room dirty that many times in a row.  Or come up with some inane thing to say at least that many times.  I used to think my Dad was a quiet man, but now I realize he was only quiet because I never let him get a word in edgeways.  I have come to this realization because now I have a son who is the exact copy of me in personality.  He looks just like his dad, but his personality is ALL mine.  (Except he doesn't mind school work, which I hated with the passion of a thousand dying suns.)  But other than that.  He's me.  In all his awkward , geeky glory.  He once informed me,  "Gee Mom, you're a veritable fount of useless information."  This from a 7 year old.  How many 7 year olds even know the meaning of the words fount and veritable? At that age, I told the boy I had a crush on, ( he was older!  13!) , that Trilobites were a prehistoric animal that lived in the water, and went on to describe them in great detail.  He looked straight at me, and said,  "You know, I just really don't believe that."  I was crushed!  Of course, this was a fairly common reaction .  I read, read , read, anything I could at that age , too.  My sister and I were some of the few children allowed access to the adult section of the library, so I had access to the better books, you know.  So, I was not just nerdy, but immensely nerdy!  I have also come to the realization that I was not very easy to get along with as a child.  I was notoriously messy.  I'm an artist, and so paper, pencils, watercolors, markers, chalk, charcoal (shudder!) cardboard, scissors, yarn, glue, beads, and so on, were EVERY where, ALL the time.  It drove my mother wild!  Just the other day , the boy of mine we've been talking about had a box full of colored pencils sharpening them into his own bed , while gleefully drawing some imaginary creation.  He never even had a second thought about sleeping with pencil shavings that night.  I must admit though, perhaps he's not an EXACT replica of me personality wise.  I had an  attitude about a mile wide.  My mottos in life were "Don't TELL me to do anything.  You can ASK , but don't TELL me."  , and , "If it's do it or else.  I choose ELSE."  Yes,  you can imagine the conflict that ensued over those particular philosophies.  I 've mellowed some............I think.  I am still an avid reader.  I 'm still an artist.  There are STILL paper, pencils, watercolors, markers, chalk, charcoal, cardboard, scissors, yarn glue , beads, and so on scattered everywhere.  I try to keep them "loosely" organized.   I 'm still pretty messy.   Although I prefer  "creatively cluttered".  In retrospect , and now that I have a real live subject to study, myself in the looking glass if you will,  I realize that with your mind going in something like 529 different directions at once, it is very difficult to care about things like clean bedrooms, or organized work areas.  If  you take time to clean , that masterpiece you are currently thinking about might not get down on paper.  That invention might not get made from wire and old gears.  If you do EVERY thing you're ever told,  it seems as if a piece of yourself gets lost somewhere.  If you never speak your mind,  you can be a doormat.  Of course, there are negative consequences to these actions , too.  If you don't clean , you can lose time looking for JUST the right color for that masterpiece.  If you don't mind your parents,  losing privileges is a real possibility.  If you do speak your mind, you can really hurt someone's feelings( even if what you said was true.) All these things I can see in hindsight and happening for my little guy in real life , everyday.  I have grown up now, (mostly), and can clean , listen to my parents, I'm working on the speaking without thinking problem, but I'm by no means perfect!  My little man came home the other night, and told me "Mom, this girl said I was geeky and awkward.  "  I just put my arms around him, and said ,  "Me too, Bubba.  Me too."


Ruby Jeanette