I know I know it killed the cat, but didn’t it have 9 lives? I always joke to my friends that I too have 9 lives. If you took one word to describe my life and personality it would be Curiousity. It is my gift to see and experience things many people are too scared to try but it has also gotten me into a lot of trouble in the past. It is the main source of all of my stories as well as the tales of my family and friends.
When I was little I got into my aunt’s acrylic paints on Christmas and poured them out on the floor to see what pretty colors I could make and then decided to make murals all over her house. I thought I was making her house look beautiful but obviously no one else felt the same way. My mother was mortified.
Several years later my mother left the baby powder out and I thought it would be fun if my brothers and sisters and I danced around the room while shooting baby powder into the fans and all over. Our own Songkran festival as you will. Well, it didn’t turn out to be the fun like you have in Thailand for my mother. She had a lot of cleaning up to do and was not happy with us.
I couldn’t be left alone for more than 5 minutes before I was on the stairs with an inter tube to sled down or making a slip and slide down a hill with garbage bags which led to bruises, broken arms and collarbones.
Everyone always jokes and says I do “all of the things.” I really just want to try everything once or maybe twice if it was really fun. I have always been that way. Because I wanted to try everything I played percussion, piano, soccer, dance, ice hockey, basketball, volleyball and softball. The only thing I was good at was ice hockey and volleyball.
I always marched to my own drum. Literally. In 7th grade I played the base drum and decided I wanted to play on beat 2 instead of 3 and ruined the whole concert. I am not sure why I was given such a prominent task as my percussion skills were terrible.
Curiousity as a teenager was not good when I wanted to try drinking or smoking and it got me in trouble with the law, school and my parents. I also decided I wanted to date that cool, hot older guy who was basically a loser and everyone warned me to stay away. I couldn’t even take him to prom so I ended up bringing a different date. My family always jokes that I had 2 dates at prom.
It allowed me to get 4.0 GPA’s and take Post Secondary Education at the College while I was still in high school. I always want to learn and know more than is required. I want to be the best at everything I do or create. I was that annoying know it all in school… I still am. Don’t play games with me, I am super competitive.
I am inquisitive and am intrigued by why people are the way they are and what makes them tick. I study people and enjoy learning about the different types of personalities. I feel empathy to the extreme and often times know how people are feeling before they will even admit they are feeling that way.
My natural interest has led me to experience exciting things like scuba diving, mountain climbing, zip lining, jumping off the top of a boats or into any body of water, jumping over fire pits, going to music festivals in Woodstock, fishing with my hands, going sledding behind a pickup truck, going ice skating on the half frozen lake, shooting a gun…
Curiousity as an adult led me to Remote Year when I wanted to know what it would be like to travel and leave my normal life for 4 months. This has been my greatest experience of my life so far.
My mother has inspired me and urged me to do whatever I want. She has always said I can do anything that I can put my mind to and that I will flourish. I wrote this post for her as I am hoping she will find some humor in some of the shit I put her through as a child. My mom is my ultimate source of inspiration and biggest cheerleader. My curiosity has brought me the greatest gifts of all.. Stories, friendship, growth and laughter.
P.S. I am only getting started. More exciting things to come.
Free to Wander 