Designated Doodler

I am convinced that I am truly weird. At ten years old I was watching JAG and building model F-14's. I daydreamed endlessly and wished that my artistic skills could be capable of depicting them. I'd hide in my room, playing James Taylor and imagining alternate endings to the television shows I had become obsessed with. Legos, Barbies, Playstation and Basketball were great, don't get me wrong. But I was happiest when I was nestled atop the tree in our backyard, watching the sunset. I loved books, music and sports like most kid's my age. But I never felt like most kids my age. I felt truly weird... because I was. The things that they worried about - I didn't. And the things they never even considered - were the things that I worried about. Even now, as a teacher, I have yet to meet a student who is anything like me. And it makes me wonder if there is anyone out there like me. Keenly aware. Cautious. Extroverted. Anxious at times. Strongly grounded in my ...

You shake when you yawn And run a slippery tongue along the inside of your top lip where little freckles bump out You never knew it wasn't normal to feel every heartbeat shake in your chest to ring off your ribs and know your pulse just by counting You feel life through and through It freaks you out, but so does death It makes you nervous just to exist Wondrously fallible, You house a host of contradictions Intelligently distracted A beautiful mess Terrifyingly brave Each new day is nothing but a new test And all you want today is to do better than yesterday's best You're lost in lofty aspirations, Bound by your own human-ness Perfectly whole yet forever incomplete You wish to feel less, To be entirely fearless, But then no one would see you as I do And in the greatest of tragedies You'd cease to be you