30 things about me as a child.

25 years old. I'm at a fancy tea house in Seattle, celebrating my birthday.

1. I hated reading in elementary school, and I’m a slow reader because of it.

2. When I was 7, I was in a fatal car accident that changed my family forever. (Not fatal to me, obviously, but fatal to the woman who hit us.)

3. I had a uni-brow and very crooked teeth. Because of this, I’m very hyper-sensitive to how my teeth look. We couldn’t’ afford braces until I was in high school and I cried the day I got them because I was so grateful to have them.

4. I was such a nerd!

5. I was very shy and was terrified of speaking to adults. (This fear lasted until I was in my 20’s. I still get nervous sometimes.)

6. I had a fiery temper and would throw and kick things when I was mad.

7. I had very sharp finger nails and thought it was fun to claw people, (I know I was messed up)

8. I was always worried about others, especially if I had hurt them.

9. I was awful at spelling, (huh, I still am. Some things don’t change)

10. I knew I wanted to be a writer.

11. I was good at kick ball and a fast runner, then around sixth grade those kind of sporty things ended.

12. I loved camping and being in the outdoors. (I hate camping now, I don’t know what changed.)

13. I loved playing dress ups.

14. I loved playing with Barbies, and went to great lengths to hide it from my friends. (It wasn’t cool to play with Barbies in fifth grade.)

15. I was scared of the dark and thought there were goblins in my room.

16. I loved climbing trees and would dream of living in a tree.

17. Whenever I played at playgrounds I would pretend I was a princess and that the play-gym was my castle.

18. My mother called me Aly-Sunny because I was always smiling, and with my blond hair and blue eyes she felt like I looked like sunshine.

19. I had a doll named Sunshine.

20. I had gold fish named Red Hot. Trying to be funny my brother told me he died right after I bought him. I broke into hysterical sobbing for a full ten minutes until my brother showed me he was joking.

21. Everyone called me Aly, I didn’t really grasp the fact that my name was Alyson, (around seventh grade I made everyone call me Alyson because I felt it was more “grown-up” now I don’t care.)

22. I had many perms in my hair.

23. Green was my favorite color. (Now it’s blue)

24. I loved paper dolls

25. I could ride a bike with no hands.

26. I got “married” to the neighborhood boy at least three times.

27. I believed that there were fairies living in my garden.

28. I had pneumonia when I was eight and had to be hospitalized.

29. I was never allowed to have Sees chocolates at Christmas time. They were only for grownups, I remember wanting so desperately to just have one piece.

30. I only ever cheated once in my life. It was on a spelling test in second grade. I wrote the word on the desk before the test and erased it afterwards. The word was “friend”. I felt sick for years afterwards and before I graduated elementary school I finally went and told my teacher. I never cheated after that experience. And I’ve never publicly admitted to this either. (Wow, does it feel good to get THAT off my chest.)