Writing

When I first began to write around age 8 years old it was because my 16 year old cousin (this would be in 1956) had died when his car ran into a house and he broke his neck and died instantly. No one really counseled me on losing a peer and a relative. Though I didn't know this cousin well and even though I was in Glendale California where we lived then and even though this cousin was in Seattle, it still traumatized the 8 year old I was and no one counseled me so I felt very vulnerable. I felt that if my cousin could die then so could I and this was difficult for an 8 year old to deal with. Death wasn't something I understood that much then other than the fact that it happened.

So, writing and getting my thoughts and feelings on paper I found helped me a lot in the form I guess of self counseling. Because when you read later what you have written (because I was an only child) with no one really to talk to about this at home, it worked for me to write down exactly what I thought and felt so I could process all this better. Because this worked so well for me I found I began journaling more and adding doodles (random drawings) to whatever I wrote that interested me too. I was always a very good speller and often won spelling bees because I always had a good memory. I was also a good speaker when they had me speak before an audience in the auditorium in front of 100 to 500 people too. Once in a while I got flustered because I didn't want to do this but I found I had a talent for I guess you could call it "Acting" whatever part people gave me. Two of my aunts were actors too and my father had this skill too.

I used my acting ability to mostly get along with people and to prevent fights whenever possible between other people. 

Also, because I was a head taller than most other children in my class at grade school it made people have to take me seriously because I was usually bigger and stronger than most other children because of my size. So, I often was a peacemaker and helped save people's lives and helped them not be injured. However, I could do nothing to spare people's feelings then in the 1950s much. IT was a crazy time then just after World War II and the Great Depression and adults often were crazy and this sometimes made kids crazy too.