I did not sleep through the night until I was about 5 years old. 30 minutes or an hour was about all I could manage and I was ready to go again. Attempts at "helping" me sleep longer only resulted in my being more fidgety and restless. I hated being awake by myself. I still do. I would sneak into my mother's room for the 3rd time that night to ask for some water just to have someone awake with me for a few moments. When I knew I was treading on thin ice, I would simply wake her up and say 'I Love You Momma'. The thin ice always melted as a weary smile replaced it.
One of those lonely nights I must've just picked up my crayons and began to draw on the walls. I've been told I was lucky to have a mom who allowed me to draw on the walls. I cannot remember the reaction she had but she was one to enjoy things nice, neat and just so. Then along came me.
I have always loved dolls. I used to make new dresses for my dolls with washcloths.
When I was about 8 years old my mom put together a tudor-style doll house kit for me for Christmas. Each wall had paint or wall paper. All of the floors were covered in carpets or wood. Each room had real working lights with a Tiffany style lamp in living room. There was even a miniature replica of The Blue Boy, a painting by Thomas Gainsborough c. 1770.
Even at such a young age I appreciated the antique style furnishings. When I was in college I gave it a renovation. It is due now for another, as with age, the glue that held it together has grown weary of its job.
I developed my appreciation for history from my mom. We moved alot when I was young. Attending 6 different schools in 4 states by the end of 6th grade. Each time we moved whether it was Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida or summers at the lake in South Carolina, my mom always sought out special places with stories to tell and she shared them with me. Old schoolhouses, battle fields, pre-civil war mansions, ancient churches and even cemeteries with graves many hundreds of years old. I was probably the only 8 year old who enjoyed a nice walk through the graveyard but there were so many stories to be told, I just couldn't resist it.
Holidays were always a big deal at my house. Though we moved alot we always kept our family home and returned there for every holiday. My parents strung Christmas lights in the shape of a Christmas tree from the 100ft CB radio tower in our backyard and topped it with a star taller than my father. Christmases meant moving the playhouse my dad built into the front yard and turning it into Santa's workshop complete with its own fireplace and Santa out on the front porch. Years later it was a life sized Santa in his sleigh with all of his reindeer on the roof of our house. Rudolph's red light bulb nose glowing into the night.
When I was in high school we added a life sized manger scene to the front yard. My dad built the stable, my mom made clothes for the mannequins and I constructed crowns and gifts for the wise men.
Halloween was another grand affair. Sometimes we turned the house into a haunted mansion and dressed as ghouls and witches.
I have always loved dressing up and becoming someone else just for a day. It gets monotonous being yourself all of the time. I've written stories since I learned to write. And I used to practice toothpaste commercials in the bathroom mirror in the hopes of one day telling my stories on the big screen.
I'm a day dreamer, music maker, make believer and someone who thinks that, sometimes, reality is way overrated. Make believe, story telling, playing dress up and dolls remain a few of my favorite things. This is how I got to be me. Silly, nonsense-loving me.
