Children? Oh no, children and I don’t …get on. ~ Bedknobs and Broomsticks
I am by nature, a solitary creature. I have a very close knit Pack of very dear friends, and a slightly wider circle of close acquaintances that I tend to keep in touch with mostly through my words. I’m somewhat like an oyster, I don’t like being intruded upon…
And when it comes to my work, I’m very protective and almost fiercely independent. I can’t stand anyone staring over my shoulder, which is why my current supervisor and I get along so well, he’s very hands off and pretty much only monitors from a distance.
In other words, I’m a very private woman, and I much prefer to simply remain to my own devices. I have a routine, and if I need or want help, I ask for it (which is why Amras has gotten a few phone calls on the last day of the cruise asking for help reshelving, even I can’t handle everything!)
So, all in all, the arrival of Mini-Me on the scene put my hackles up at the same time as it confused the heck out of me. I sum up as best I can: Mini-Me, is – nearly literally – a Mini-Me. She even has the same name. She’s 11. The daughter of one of the medical staff on board, she’s a sweet kid, she really is – she’s smart, and well, she’s a lot like I was when I was a kid. I know well what it’s like to be the child thrown into an adult world, an old soul who just isn’t “gotten” by kids your own age, so you get along better with the adults than you ever would with the kids. She’s bored to tears by our kids program because she’s been a crew kid for so long and so she literally has nothing to do. I want to support her I do…because I’ve been her…
But…
Oyster remember?
I can’t get away from her! She’s …always there. Always right at my shoulder, and sometimes I can give her work to do and that’s great, but most times I don’t like sharing my work, and I don’t actually have anything to give her, and she’s not a reader so I can’t just give her a book and tell her to entertain herself…so she just sits…and stares…and reads everything I’m writing over my shoulder!
It’s making me jumpy!
*sigh*…so, I need to figure out how to be a cool big sister for two weeks…
This…shall be interesting….
A big sister?