When I was a kid I loved creating. I learned early on that anything and everything had the potential to be what I wanted it to be. A chunk of log that I found cut from the cabin my parents were in the process of building and a few 16 penny nails became a stilted house for my hot wheels. Branches and sticks gathered and woven into walls would provided a “structure”for my brother and I to use as a drive through restaurant for our little Honda 50 motorcycles. We would trade off who worked the drive through and who rode the mini bike trough the drive through and placed their order. We “lived” life as kids…no video games, internet or TV and parents that encouraged and even sometimes participated in our crazy ideas.
We simply used imagination and invention to occupy our time and I can’t ever recall being bored. I would design duffle bags with crudely drawn pencil sketches for my mother (the world’s most amazing seamstress) to make. The sketch would be complete with specific color choices for each part of the bag, how long the straps needed to be and pockets…lots and lots of pockets.
I grew up thinking I lived a perfectly “normal” life. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I realized I wasn’t like all my other classmates or kids my age. I was different in so many ways the least of all being that I drove a 1962 VW beetle that my dad and I had restored. I honestly thought it was the best thing ever. I was so proud of that little $50 auction car and while all the other 16 year olds were bragging about their NEW car, I would click the seatbelt in my little bug and smile because I installed those seatbelts and those seats I was sitting on…well I had repaired them with my own hands.
I guess I said all of that to say this…I’ve been creating with whatever I had my entire life. It IS at the very core of who I am. I am a creator, maker, a “think-outside-the-boxer”. I am weird and different and often folks don’t “get” me but I’ve embraced my “weirdness” and have learned to wear it like a beacon so that all the other weirdos out there can quickly recognize one of their own! Today if I had a choice between weird and normal I’d choose weird every time! Because “normal” is boring!
Here’s to staying weird and creating good things from the “junk” pile! Now GO, make something!