All That I Yam

Nancy, one of my Yooper friends, posted the image to the right on Facebook this morning. I have Internet known Nancy and her husband of many years for I am thinking over 12 years now at least. It may be longer, I don't know nor do I give a shit. 12 years is certainly long enough to have decided whether I like this couple from the upper peninsula of Michigan, even if we have not met face to face. It has also been enough time to verify that the image perfectly matches the image of Nancy and Ray I carry in my mind. If you do not like what they are about, give em a minute to pull down their britches so you can kiss their asses.

Maybe that is why I like them so much. I guess we really do surround ourselves with folks who seem to carry similar attributes as we do or that we perceive we do. 

I never really appreciated that the adult I became depended quite a bit on what I dealt with as a child. Of course I know the time spent as a child can have both positive and negative effects on how that child navigates the world as an adult. But for the most part it seems we point out the big, easy to notice negatives or positives of a childhood as the drivers for the adult that results.

What I am appreciating now as an old codger are the under the radar facets I began turning into character traits that would determine what kind of human I would become as I aged out. The image points up one positive or negative trait that I now see had a major impact on my life going forward.

I changed locations as a child like some folks changed their underwear. I learned early to not be surprised that while we had been where we were now for over a year, it was again time to move on as my family was constantly looking for the grass that was always greener somewhere else.

The result of this nomadic lifestyle was I had to develop techniques for myself that helped me slide into the local elementary school social scene as seamlessly as possible. I figured out quickly that breaking into a well run clique was often more trouble than it was worth. So I became comfortable being the loner, the new kid who would always be the new kid no matter where he went. I got so I actually looked forward to a new town, new people, etc. But along the way I found that I got along better with this never ending list of strangers when I did not care to be part of their little groups. 

Oddly that seemed to make me more popular sooner than if I had hung around waiting to be picked to join. I never really did understand the why of it, and I still don't. But not giving a shit about what people think about me has served me well. And though I am sure I have lost the friendship of acquaintances and companions over the years, I feel it was worth it to not eat myself up with anxiety for not fitting in. I became comfortable in my own skin.

We each find our own way no matter how much we seem to depend on others to help us. There is no right way through Life. It is a personal trip that employs many influences which may depend on a support structure of family and friends or not.  The trick as I see it now, is to never use my childhood negatives as an excuse for the kind of adult I have become. I am a combination of good and bad that brought with them the appropriate experiences I hopefully learned from the first time I experienced them. 

Regardless, as Popeye, that old nautical sage once said:

"I yam what I yam. That is all that I yam."

Keep it'tween the ditches .................................................

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Musical choice today is a Phil Collins tune I think he wrote for a Animated film by Disney- "On My Way" . Never saw the movie, but the tune seems appropriate.