This list may seem a little strange, but it happens to be my Christmas list—when I was eight years old. Now that I come back to it, like the story of my imaginary newspaper, I believe this is more evidence indicating my inherent passion for writing. As most passions go, I’ve sometimes suppressed, ignored and even fought them, but little instances like this list let me know that I’ve been neglecting the most honest part of myself for a very long time. Now it’s time to give myself a chance to creatively and continuously explore.
8 -year -old Ashieda’s Christmas List:
1. Bratz Dolls:
Oh come on, there was some point where every child wanted a doll of some kind. The trend shamelessly focused on dolls with large heads and even larger lips. One doll’s outfit even included various cow-print designs with bright blue leather boots. I was eight and the marketing was excellent.
2. CDs:
Backstreet Boys, ‘N sync, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera (and many other members of the Mickey Mouse Club.) No one could live in the 90’s and not own one of these CD’s.
3. Lisa Frank Stationary Kit:
There were so many colors—more pens and pencils than I knew what to do with. I loved it. I wanted to write in a different colored pen every day; therefore, I started to write everything from personal notes to my mother’s grocery list just for fun. I wrote my sisters letters to go in their lunches. I wrote to my Grandma who lived far away. I wrote to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (they were fine back then). But mostly I started writing to myself—hence the journal.
4. Journal:
To go along with my plethora of writing utensils, I wanted something special to write them in. My own place to try out new words and tell everything to. My place to be sad about losing my best friend or be scared for my sick little sister. My place to be mad at my mother or vent about other eight-year-old, world-ending issues. My place.
5.Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein:
As if the evidence couldn’t get any more ironic. I loved this book and kept checking it out of my school library until my parents finally bought me my own.
I believe on some minor level I understood—as much as an eight year old could—how cathartic writing (and poetry) could be for me, but I never knew it would persist into my passion. As my live history with writing indicates, I’ve only recently gotten better at reading the signs. If anything, I’ve mainly drifted further away from them.
And so, more evidence soon.
My Dad Wanted Me To Be A Lawyer But... 
I could not agree with this article more! Everything on your list that you mentioned here was totally on mine too. (Serious question…why were we obsessed with bratz dolls? They’re heads are freakishly large.) But anyways, its awesome that you thought of this idea to write about. I feel like who you were as a kid is very telling of who you are today, even though obviously there are so many physical differences. It was a time where you wanted what you wanted and there was no fear of judgement or 50 questions about WHY you wanted that thing. Regardless of other meanings, I miss asking for cools toys for christmas!
HAHA! I love this…what a flashback to my childhood. Gosh, “Where the Sidewalk Ends” was such an amazing book! I hope you got it for christmas. This is such a fun writing exercise as well. I love you make your own spin on creative writing, and especially how you linked this one to the past.
I loved this post! It was really a flashback to childhood where we would want the most obscure things. But I also like how a lot of these items on your 8-year-old wish list can actually be very telling of who you are today. The fact that you love writing today and how you asked for a Lisa Frank Stationary Kit and of course a pretty journal to go with it. This post really makes me think back to what I used to ask for from my parents for my birthday and holidays.
I think your progression through the list is quite cool, and gives a sense of the longevity of your passion for writing and reading. I also like how genuine your list is, and how it reflects both your childhood passions and current drives. What a wonderful way to reflect on how writing has impacted your life!
Being a guy from literally the other side of the world, I can’t relate to your list whatsoever. But then it made me think of what my own list would look like. Its crazy how we change over time. And its hilarious everytime I think of how I used to be as a kid.