Christopher Street

Six lives--an explanation, part one

I tend to think of my life as a series of lives, each one with a different me in it. The childhood me, the one that live with my parents in a house in a town with no stoplights...that was my first life. I was an introspective, miserable, brooding kid. I am not sure, but evidence would suggest that I wasn't easy to live with--or, easy to like. I was smart, yes, and frankly had no time for anyone not as smart. Unfortunately, there weren't many that were as smart. I say this now with no ego--a quick look at my test scores will back up that I'm just telling the truth. I hadn't yet discovered, though, that people have worth that is not directly tied to their intellect, and that meant that my childhood was really just me and a couple of other smart kids being snarky about people who weren't as smart. At the time, I think that I thought that we were having fun--which means, in a very real way that we were--but looking back, I think that that girl-- that me-- might have missed out on some of the better parts of being a kid.

But anyway--that was the first me. My first life.