My Fictional World

My dad is a school counselor at a boarding school in the States. He has been at the same school since he began so I think he's now into year 39 or so...amazing! And in that time he's been the Dean of Students (not a good job for him), a biology teacher (fun but not quite right) and his current position of counselor/psychology teacher (perfect for him).

Because of his job, I spent the first seven years of my life living at the school. It's a great life for a little kid. The campus was entirely safe so my little gang of fac brats could roam about. We were like a little band of Robin Hood's followers...I wouldn't have messed with us. And I was one of the few girls. I don't know what was happening at this school but everyone seemed to have boys! And so I became a pseudo boy. It was easy as I had short curly hair, was a sporty little thing and so climbing trees & running around was awesome. I got to ride my tricycle up and down the long hallways of the dorm, I had gobs of older boys and girls who would smile, pick me up and want to play. Yes, it was childhood wonderland.

And then we moved. I was promised a dog if I would put up with this move to the 'country'. And off we went, just a few miles away, but it felt like a completely different world. There were no sidewalks, no other children living nearby and mom began to actually work (so they could afford the mortgage). All of a sudden I had to find 'fun' on my own. I see this point of my life as the reason I started to look within. I became a much more withdrawn person, less fun and outgoing...because I had to. I spent more time on my own (cause my little brother was a pain in the butt), started reading like a fiend and had a wonderful fictionary world (will have to tell stories about this another time). I became quite shy. Which was a shame as I was such an outgoing child. I also became quite the listener and someone who could sit in quiet. I think it led to me wanting to eventually become a therapist (yes, just like dad). So while there's been some challenges that have come from this experience, I've also gotten quite a lot from it as well.