reminiscent

I've realized what a different person I've become. I know that everyone changes from the time they were 10 because of the obvious changing of environment and influences, but I remember thinking that I would never change. I was so adamant about staying the same that I would forcefully shake my head "no" when my mother asked me if I would like the color pink. Of course then, I surrounded myself with green and tried to as stay far away as possible from anything showing pink. Barbies were the enemy. Of course now, I happen to love pink, though I still have a fondness for green.
I recently found one of my old notebooks that contained my drawings of animals. I was an animal junkie in my early years. My favorite animal was atypical; instead of being a dog or a cat or a dolphin like other normal kids my age, I chose to take interest in the alligator. I remember telling an estranged relative the differences between an alligator and a crocodile. The sad thing is, I can't even remember them now aside from the fact that one usually resides in freshwater and the other saltwater. It had something to do with the arrangement of the jaw and teeth. The late Steve Irwin was my inspiration and I loved watching THE CROCODILE HUNTER. Ah, this is making me sad.
I saw my pictures of the alphabet, with each letter having a corresponding animal. For "I", I had an Ibis. I had forgotten what an Ibis was until I read my old notes. I realized how distant I've become from this animal junkie I used to be. Was I a weird kid? I feel like I was smarter back then. I remember collecting the autobon society guides to a plethora of mammals, fish, reptiles, insects and other invertebrates. I still have them in my bookshelf. I used to love insects. Now I find them disgusting. One look at a cockaroach and I'll be in the other room, yelling at somebody to kill it before it spreads diseases. One time, in my prime (age 11), I was at my uncle's house and I happened about a spider in the corner by a plant. I yelled, "It's a microthena spider eating ladybug larva!" This was, of course, because I had seen a picture of it in my autobon society guide! I don't even know what a microthena spider is now. I think it's the one that looks like it has spines. Another particular incident of my animal-lovingness stays with another one of my uncles, and probably will forever. I had developed an attachment to a particular species of waterbird, the Jacana and in my notebook I had drawn a picture of it in its natural habitat with a lily pad. Under it, I labeled "Jacana. It's kind of a waterbird." Of course I meant "it's a kind of waterbird", but me being 10 didn't know any better. My uncle read it and joked, "if it's only kind of a waterbird, what else is it?" He'll never let me live it down. He teases me to this day. Ah, nostalgia. I miss my pre-adolecent years, pre-high school and yes even middle-school dramas. Those years held some of my finest memories and now, when I'm loaded down with stress, looking back on them gives me temporary sanity. yay. refuge in nostalgia