Someone told me that once you are a pickle, you can never be a cucumber again. Why anyone would want to be either is a mystery to me. I think I was born a pickle. I consider myself a pickle among pickles because after years of searching I found my place.

When I was five years old I got in trouble in school. Now mind you, I rarely got in trouble. I can count on one hand the number of times I was counseled from kindergarten to my senior year. I was obedient, cooperative, shy and scared to death of authority. Nevertheless, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was sent to the think bench. What I discovered next surprised me. I loved the think bench! I loved the sunshine resting on my shoulders as I sat ruminating, imagining, forming ideas about the sandbox, playground and my schoolmates. I discovered that I had an inner playground that was limitless, without guidelines and the best of all had…no judgement, no social position and no rules! I visited the think bench often just to adorn, embellish and deck the halls of the area where I created in-depth analysis, intensified moods and formulated responses. I should have been wearing a t-shirt that said, Wait! Let me overthink this.