I will never know what I missed

Have you ever wondered what you would have become if you had been raised in a different environment? I think about that once in a while. I thought about it last night when I was putting La Nina to bed. Her childhood is going to be much different than mine was.

I grew up in a VERY rural area. Our nearest neighbor lived over a mile away. I did not eat at a McDonald's until I was 16 and one was put in a town 50 miles away. I learned to play by myself and use my imagination. I was always much more at ease in the mountains by myself than in even the small town where I went to school. I was more comfortable with horses than people. I have learned to adjust, but it took years.

At one point, my Dad was offered a position as a tuck point supervisor on the Empire State building in NYC. (To the best of my understanding, that is where the outer layer of mortar is removed from between the stonework and replace with fresh mortar. It is a process that I understand is almost continual on a lot of buildings.) He decided he did not want his children growing up in that environment, so he took a job with the Division of Wildlife instead. How different of a person would I be today if I had grown up there instead of where I did? I will never know the answer to that question.

My daughter will most likely grow up knowing city life better than country life. Although we live in a somewhat rural area, it is part of an ever expanding metro area. Although she has a lot of imagination for an almost 3 year old, she will never have to develope it like I did. She will most likely play with real friends everyday, not the imagined ones that I did.

It will be fun watching her grow up and seeing what she will become. Maybe she will give me a clue to what I would have become under different circumstances.

ciao,

Deej