This Is Us

Too Big For This World

I understood, even as a young girl, that I was much too much.

Alabama searching for shells on a barrier island, being perfect. Photo by author.

I was too wild, too exuberant, asked too many questions, and paid far too little attention. I stared out the windows of my elementary school and imagined myself hanging upside-down from the trees, staring back into the classroom. I would not hear the teacher calling my name…