Learn from the World

When I was a child my mother would yell at me You eat too much yogurt! I can't afford it. Which was ridiculous, but I began culturing my own yogurt from nonfat dry milk and water. I incubated it with a teaspoon of live active yogurt and let it grow overnight in the empty oven over the pilot light. I would eat the finished yogurt the next morning for breakfast.

You can't eat yogurt for breakfast! my mother insisted. I knew there must be humans on Earth who eat yogurt for breakfast. India, Scandinavian countries, and more. Eventually my mother also began eating yogurt for breakfast.

My mother insisted that if she was going to pay for my clothing, she would choose the clothing herself. So in college I made my own clothes. I bought a dozen shirts and dyed them in the dye lab over Thanksgiving break when the school was empty.  I also bought fabric and sewed blouses. 

Then I got a job as a prep cook in a restaurant. My mother screamed at me. Quit your job! It will interfere with your schoolwork. But of course it didn't. I kept my job and loved it more than college. I was able to buy a used Volkswagen bug and get around on my own. 

Eventually I realized she had a master plan for me and anytime I veered away she tried to push me back into her plan. I never obeyed. I am proud of this because others in my family got caught and they are still trapped there to this day. I saw outside the trap, the prison. 

My friends tell me You really see outside the box."What box?" I reply.