Some girls are not meant to fit in. This has always been the story of my life. As a child, I never dreamed of weddings. I didn’t give in to peer pressure. Pink was never my favorite color (team yellow!). I didn’t care about boys (until I was older). I just wanted to enjoy life with people I loved and find adventure in everything! I wanted to love people, build relationships, and play with everyone’s dogs – and I lived in water. I was a fish!
I always did my own thing. I talked to my stuffed animals like I was a talk show host. I was obsessed with my dad’s vinyl records (my dad is a musician and I love ALL KINDS of music – jazz, soul, hip-hop, classic/alt rock, ska, reggae and free-style are tops) and recorded songs with him and my uncle in our dining room, I learned to play the piano. I read books for hours under the crepe myrtle tree in my parents’ front yard (sitting on top of my bright pink and green ice cream sleeping bag!), I climbed trees, I got excited when the JCPenney catalog arrived in the mail so I could plan EXACTLY how I’d decorate my future castle (majestic!) where all my friends, family, and my children (go figure) could come stay with me (and all the dogs my mom refused to let me have as a kid), I tried to create my own language (which some of my friends spoke with me!), I wrote poetry and short stories (I became a published poet at age 8!), and I loved to run so much that I raced all the older boys (football players) up and down the street I lived on. I’m an innovator, a creative, an athlete, a dreamer, a doer, a comedian and a lover of life in my own right. I guess I’m “weird.” But, I do it well.
Some girls will never fit into the boxes you think they should. I don’t care about material things. I don’t care to do things just to appease those around me. I stand up for myself and others. I believe in the following codes: morality, loyalty, kindness, and respect. I give grace but I’m no-nonsense. I love unconditionally.
Some girls don’t fit in. And one of them is me.