I am what I am from my childhood.

I think the reason I am such a strange character is clear from the stories of my childhood.  I was never very normal or straightforward, which I think is pretty obvious once you see the finished product. 

A prime example is of my sister's first birthday.  I was almost four and getting into all sorts of trouble in my grandmother's sewing cupboard.  At this stage I had just started sewing (But I still needed Grandma to thread the needle for me) and I wanted to make something to wear to her party.  A little over ambitious? Probably.  Likely to end up as an embarrassing photo for the whole wold to see? Most definitely.  Unfortunately instead of going for a modest dress or a nice dress suit I went with a bikini.  Why my parents allowed me to attend my sisters birthday party wearing a strip of fabric covering my nipples and a loin cloth I will never know.

Due to a lack of photographic evidence at this time this illustration will have to do.

Another issue of my childhood was that I was born without the instinct of stranger danger.  While my little sister would eye people off and keep her cute little mouth closed I would be blabbing my head off to some poor unsuspecting stranger.  To this day I have no concept of this very important survival instinct.  On the upside it means that it is easy for me to meet people and make friends.  On the downside it can get you into all kinds of trouble.  I have had several people of the male persuasion think that my lack of stranger danger means they can follow me home or stalk me at work.  I am slowly learning the importance of keeping my mouth zipped.

Being afraid of the dark is another throw back from my childhood.  I know, Hambo the zombie slayer afraid of the dark?  Don't ask me how or why, I just am.  I am ok as long as I don't realise I am in the dark.  Going to the toilet in the middle of the night is ok as long as my brain doesn't work.  I remember being only about nine years old and totally freaking myself out.  I had somehow convinced myself that there was a leopard in my room, crouching by my closed door just staring into my soul.  I couldn't blink.  In the end I managed to throw myself from my bed to my little sisters and fall asleep with her.  When I woke up in the morning it turned out that the 'leopard' was actually my school bag and I was a giant sissy.