What exactly is a "normal" childhood anyway? My bad eyesight made me the last picked for every PE class, and a perfect target for the bullies. I had to sit at the front of the class just to see the board, but you couldn't tell them that.

My good grades made me the one to cheat off of ... and when the adminstration forgot to issue me a locker, thus forcing me to carry all of my books for the entire school year, my reputation as a nerd was complete. Add to this, the drama club, honor society and a fascination for all things mystical, and I pretty much joined the club for "misfits" and "outcasts." My mom always remarked how I had a knack for picking up the "stragglers."

I didn't fit in, and yet I felt connected to all things around me. I'd feel alone and crowded at the same time... and the nightly lessons never stopped.

And so I started to share what I was learning. Summertime would come and I would go off to summer camp. Baseball and football went on around me (remember how popular I am with that?) and I would sit under a tree, along with my fellow "stragglers" and talk about the Universe, how Life was "what you make it" and "use your own power to follow your passion."

Adults weren't sure what to do with me; kids didn't know what to do with what I just said.

This was during the 70's (not the TV show, the real thing), so some of the Flower-Power-Guitar-Strumming Counsellors at least "got it." To them, I was kind of "cool" for a kid.