Question of the Day!

I was one of those kids who asked questions the whole day long.

My dad LOVED it and explained everything to me: why the grass is green, the sky blue, how a car works, why planes don't fall down. He showed me the star constellations and how to navigate with them... and all before I was five.

My Mom was... the contrary. Very, very impatient...

One day she said fed up, "Read it up." (As in my answer to 5/3, I grew up in a house full of books).

I said, with all of the authority a Four-Year-Old can master, "Mom, I'm four. It's two more years until I go to school and learn how to read."

Mom, "What a B–" (Yeah, she actually said it, or better the German word for it.)

What did I do?

And that REALLY makes me proud:

With the help of an atlas, a globe lamp dad had given me for Christmas before, our Scrabble game, and a VERY amused Dad (who soon "shut up", though, concerning that),

I taught myself reading.

Ma'am, you shoulda seen Mom's face after I, not asking her, went straight to the bookshelves, instead.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Read it up, Mom."

That left her speechless – and that condition is nonexistent in a Rheinländer.

Then, she tested me – asked me questions about what I "read"... dude, she almost keeled over when she realized I could really read.

When did THAT happen?



Some other things:

– surviving four suicide attempts

– seeking treatment after the last one, against my duped parents "Wishes" who were embarrassed about my imagined "illness" (it's called Bipolar II, and I got it "handed down" by Mom, btw.).

– Finding myself a job (NO Vitamin B!) in Canada, and moving over there and live and work.

– FINALLY putting myself first and taking care of myself.


Hm, overall not that bad, eh?