Deprivation

A look of disbelief creeps through the centers of the eyes... pupil--- to the whites change in a way that can only be explained with intensity. The outsides of the eyelids tighten... Jaw loosens slightly to allow a small shaped 'o' accumulate. As I continue to discuss childhood each word that pours from my tongue seems to make my audiences eyes widen into circled 'o's to match the mouth. If I could pause time in this instance to draw on your face I would. PAUSE: I would make pretty perfect circles on your lips, eyes, cheeks, nose, maybe three on the fore-of-you-head just for shits and giggles. Then you would look as ridiculous as I feel you look for reacting like this to what I'm telling you... Growing up, and even to this day- when I tell people about my childhood the usual reaction goes generally as noted above promptly followed by some sort of structured sentence including the word DEPRIVED. Before I continue, let us take a little field trip to the library and look up the technical meaning of this jumble of consanents and nouns so commonly used in the description of my youth... side note: mmmmmm the smell of books. "Deprived: Marked by deprivation especially of the necessities of life or healthful environmental influences." and even better another describes it as: "Lacking in advantage, opportunity, or experience." So what in the HECK could I be saying to all these separately associated people throughout the years that would give them all this impression... I'll give you some hints for what it's not... It's not that... -family couldn't afford food or shelter or clothing... -I came from a broken family and/or there was a link missing... -I didn't get to travel and experience lots of things... So what on earth could these Americanized Humans be referring to?!?! Ah... Cable TV and Game Systms... Yup that's right mr./mrs. 'O' face I grew up with no Cable or any sort of video games. And honestly I think I'm better off because of it. You see I have this theory... I think because my sisters and I grew up "lacking" these things from our households it forced us to develope mad imaginations and a love for reading that many people from this generation are simply put: missing completely from the innerds of their skulls. My imagination is so vivid that I picture things happening as they happen and I can view complete scenes that I'm imagining that were sparked from something tiny that happened in my day. So really... I think deprived is the furthest word from the truth... I think I'm completely and utterly BLESSED to have grown up without those things. They have shaped me into the intensively creative monster that I am, and I would not want to be any other way. So stick that in your "o" mouth and suck it.