Subtle Influences

When I was 17, I was given the Rorschach test (the ink blotty one). Both the auditor and I were a little shocked at how many images I saw were based on, or out of, children's literature. As I've gotten older, I am no longer even a little shocked. If nothing else, as I've learned about childhood development, what else did either of us expect to be my influences at 17? 

Anyway... I cannot even begin to list all my "favorite" books from childhood, but I have recently become aware of the ones that were the most influential. I thought I was just reading. I thought I was just listening to my mother read to me. I was so wrong. So very wrong, and TTG for it!

When Harold's world isn't what he wants it to be, he changes it. With his purple crayon, he creates the mundane and the magical.

Given to me by my grandfather one Christmas, when his walk home wasn't interesting enough, he changed it up. More than a little.

A man's house ends up with a big orange splot on the roof. It becomes a chance for self-expression that spreads throughout the neighborhood. No wonder Home Owners' Associations piss me off.

And of course, my beloved Eloise. Who is six. Who lives at the Plaza, with PP on the door. Who is a city child.

I do believe in free will. I really do. At the same time, I can't help but wonder if my personality was set before I was five. Cut from whole cloth indeed.

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.