Looking for My Tribe

Maybe I’m weird or maybe I just haven’t found my tribe. Who knows? I’m used to it though.

As a youngster I was flung around the world. I learned to read and write about the same time I was chatting Indonesian with the local kids. All of us running around nearly naked.

My little chubby cheeks were pinched hard enough to make me cry because the locals wanted to see how red they could be; little white girl in an island country.

I’d climb the school fence during lunch, go home and change clothes, just to return back to school more comfortable without missing a beat. That was second grade.

I learned to pee on the ground, make a fire, and play with a knife. I learned to raise rabbits, guinea pigs, and gerbils. And I learned that baby gerbils didn’t belong in my pocket at school.

I learned to pick up dog shit, keep the water bowls full, and to treat an animal right.

I grew up a ‘wild child’; always outdoors, drinking out of the hose, coming home muddy with a dirt ring around my neck and tiny stones in my feet. I never wore shoes and brushing my hair was a nightmare.

I could carry my body weight on the top of my head, easier than in my arms. I could leverage my legs to push furniture around the room, climb any counter, and stand on most chairs.

I wasn’t the one who splashed in the puddles. Instead, I’d create a boat out of a leaf, put an acorn or a stick in it as a person, and set it to ‘sail’ down the ‘streams’ along the side of the road.

I’d sit for hours on the sidewalk and watch the ants at their work, occasionally putting something in their way to see what they’d do.

A patch of moss was a fine lawn that I built a beautiful countryside castle upon out of small sticks, pebbles and grass.

The forest was the true jungle. ALL trees were worth climbing, many above the rooftops around.

Give me a problem that has to be solved, I’ll find a way. I’ve helped rebuild my car engine, fixed my own furnace, serviced my own plumbing. If I don’t know it yet, I can and will learn it, especially if it’s necessary.

I can do all the things a house needs:

• cook
• clean
• lights
• ceiling fans
• toilets
• yard
• stairs
• paint
• doorstops
• sew

And tons more.

I’m a person of many interests:

• I love the sciences – biology, chemistry, genetics, pharmacology, gardening, cooking, fermentation…
• Enjoy logic puzzles, scrabble, Banana Grams, Boggle and more.
• I love learning new things. I’ll follow a thought until I know a bunch about it. When I am wrong about something, I immediately research until my eyes don’t open and I know, KNOW, how I was wrong so I can do better in the future.

Some of my latest interests include – urban gardening, edible landscapes, investing stocks and options, business building, social media methods, blogging, cats, herbs and tonics, and fermentation (Ginger Bug, Kombucha, Sourdough, Kimchi, and Fire Cider).

Then in my ‘free’ time, I enjoy visiting with friends, family, kayaking, and just chatting with folks.

Sometimes I remember to eat.

My brain thirsts for more regularly; so I feed it.

Are you part of my tribe?

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Wendi