when i was a kid i wanted ....

... a lite brite, my little pony, and the maui barbie (because she had black hair and looked like me). I wanted to please my parents. A lot of these toys were kept from me because I didn't accomplish something that they wanted, like straight A's or passing a piano song or reading a book fast enough. I also wanted to hang out with friends more or attend sleepovers but couldn't. I wanted to be accepted by my schoolmates which was difficult because I was often forcibly kept at bay. I also wanted to be a journalist from the beginning. I originally wanted to be an anchorwoman, but thought I wasn't pretty enough so I went into writing.

i wrote this at work where we were led in a community-building exercise. We were given three writing prompts:

1. when I was a kid i wanted ....
2. when i think of the place i call home i ...
3. when i think about my name i ....

we were to choose one of these prompts and write stream-of-consciousness style for 3 mins. Then we shared them with our groupmates. it was such a great exercise that I came home, invited Chris over for dinner, and did the same thing with him, just the two of us. you think you know someone after so many years, but we learned new things about each other through these little stories! now i want to do this with pretty much everyone in my life ... haha! so next time you and I hang out, be warned because I'm gonna bust out two sheets of paper, two pens, and a stopwatch ...

ok ... now i understand why i'm never invited to parties.

me on the left. how cute is uno's little mohawk!? haha.