How I have not changed since a child

 "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me"- St. Paul

yours truly

Lately, I've been revisiting how I thought and examined things as a child, and how that has shifted as I've grown. 

But I've not put all my childish ways behind me. Here is a list of how I have NOT changed since I was wee: 

1. I still find that one of the chiefest pleasures is waking up early, and lying in bed, reading to my heart's content, until I want to rise. That or staying awake at night, captivated by such a thrilling plot, one loses all sense of time. I still constantly read.

2. I still like my favorite childhood foods: boiled peanuts, peanut brittle, chicken and yellow rice, lemonade, and watermelon. My ideal lunch is still granny smith apples and (American) peanut butter.

3.  I am still afraid of some of the same things. I am still petrified of snakes, and my ideal pet is still a mongoose because it kills snakes. I am still afraid that Fidget will come in my open window at night. I am still afraid of people dressed in mascot-costumes, especially Chuck E Cheese.  I still dislike being the center of attention or walking into a room full of stranger.  

4.   I have an undiminished fascination with animals. My pet (or farm animal) list ever grows.

5.  I still dislike getting dressed in the mornings. Such an unnecessary necessity. 

6. I still like to make food in the kitchen. 

7.  I still love being outside. I wish classrooms could always be held outside in the sunshine.

8.  I still like active things: camping, hiking, boating, lawn games, traveling.

9.  I still adore giving gifts. It's how I say "I love you" best.

10.  I still love making things with my hands. I'm so bad at most things I try, but how I enjoy it! 

11.  I still like to write.  While I write less now than I did, it's still something that has stuck and refused to unburr.

12. The greatest bane of my existence is to make decisions. So many decisions: big ones, small ones, irrelevant ones.  It comes from a puritanical sense of perfection, that one thing must be the very best, better than all others, and I must, must find it! It's awful.  Because of this, I will always somewhat dislike shopping. Or choosing which books to buy or not to buy. Or figuring out what to cook for dinner.