I was thinking about this a lot today, because my mom was actually discussing this with one of her friends, and I think I may have been a little odd.
What were you like as a kid? How would adults at the time have described you? How would YOU have described you, if you met your childhood self?
My mom said that both of my sisters were completely normal - they were a little clingy throughout their childhood, and gradually "spread their wings," as it were, as they got into adolescence.
She said that I never really got too into that, and was pretty independent even as a baby. I always tried to find ways to do things for myself, and when I was a toddler, I would always want to find anyway possible to figure things out so that people didn't have to assist me. I liked people, and I was a sweet kid, but I loved doing things on my own.
When I got into Elementary school, I did the same. I read ahead to figure out what I was supposed to be doing, and got everything done without being told. That way, I'd have time to do what I wanted to do - read, write, or draw pictures.
Whenever I saw someone being picked on, I would make it a point to befriend that person. I could never stand the thought of seeing someone upset and without a friend.
I did get into trouble a bit. This stemmed from my issue of wanting to do things my way, getting busted, then trying to find another way to do things my way without getting busted. I never did anything REALLY bad - I was just always trying to find ways to do what I wanted to do without negatively impacting other people. It wasn't so much getting caught that I was trying to avoid, as being told I was wrong. As such, I was a frustration. Because, no matter how crafty a six-year-old is, they're not wont to slip one by an adult.
I played hella sports. I identified and felt I connected better with boys than girls - and had a new boyfriend every week. I played catcher from the time I was six until the time I was twelve; I initially hadn't wanted to play the position so much - I fancied myself a short stop - but all of the boys on the team were scared to do it, so I volunteered.
One of my fondest memories involves a rookie league game in which this heinous team had one of the two other girls in the league in their numbers. She came up to bat, and all of the team started chanting at the other team, "Your team has a girl! Your team has a girl!"
The coach quickly rushed over, trying to hush the team up, and said, "Boys, stop. Your team has a girl, too. Sara is a girl."
And this kid on the team, turned around, said, "That doesn't count. Sara's good."
I went on, in my childhood years, to also do a lot of theatre, a lot of writing, a lot of daydreaming, a lot of athletics... I had a lot of friends, but I also liked time alone to just do my own thing.