Interview with Rachel Kitterman

I've always felt that I was different than other people but I've come to think that perhaps most people feel this way.

I learned to read when I was very young - three and a a half...I used to take a big cardboard box and fill it with books every time I went to the library when I was growing up. It drove my mother nuts that I always had my nose in a book. She was always saying, "Why don't you go DO something?" I even used to read while I was riding my bike to and from school! A library book fit quite nicely in the handlebars of my ten speed.

All my friends have always been older than I am. At this point in my life most of my friends are a good deal older. I always felt like I was waiting to get old enough so that people would take me seriously. Now I think that the key might be to stop taking myself so seriously and not worry what other people think. LOL.

I am an introvert and always spent a lot of time by myself lost in my imaginary worlds or buried in a book as a kid. I'm quite gregarious in social situations. I love to talk and tell stories but it exhausts me and I need downtime alone to recover and recharge.

I'm an artist - and even stranger, a fiber artist which people just do not seem to get.

I've lived in a small, conservative rural town for the past eight years and it has been something of a shock after growing up in a fairly large and very liberal college town. I usually feel like the weird one here. I unschool my kids...I'm way out there on the alternative end as far as parenting goes...We live in a multi-generational household with my dh's {darling husband} eccentric family. We have a swing in our living room.

When my dh was a kid his ... dad put up a rope swing in their livingroom...When we enclosed our carport and made it into a family room, we put up two swings. One is a rope swing with a circular seat and the other was a baby swing for our younger dd {darling daughter}. For a long time my younger dd, Rowan, would only go to sleep in the swing. My older dd swung while watching cartoons and could get herself going so high that she could touch the ceiling. We also have a swingset, two tree swings, a porch swing and a hammock outside! We must be people who enjoy swinging! LOL!

And now I am getting very interested and involved in alternative healing practices such as energy work, Reiki, chakra meditation, etc. So, all in all, I feel like a fish out of water a lot of the time.

I could not stand high school and left at 16 to go to college.I've never had any desire to have a "regular" job. I like being a SAHM {stay at home mom} and an artist and my mother thinks I'm nuts because I don't want to go back to school, get a career, a house, a minivan and send my kids to public school. I'm so grateful to Marney and her You University class for showing me that it is possible to follow my dreams and make a living doing what I love to do.

I have an incredible group of friends on the internet who are all odd and amazing people. I can share my work and my eccentricities with them and get support and understanding. I have great real-life support groups.

My counselor also started a spiritual community called Divine Mother Community that focuses on bringing Divine Mother energy to heal the collective... It has been a really wonderful experience for me to be part of such a positive and inclusive spiritual community.

I have done an incredible amount of personal and emotional healing - especially in the last year - and I think that has helped a great deal in accepting myself and trusting that there is indeed a plan and a purpose for my life... And I have the world's most incredible husband who I can talk to about anything.

His family is the polar opposite of my family and I was fascinated by them. They were this loud, demonstrative, eccentric group of artists, writers, actors, and rebels. Gabe is actually the "white sheep" of his family being the quiet and practical one. He keeps me grounded. I am a flighty, passionate and dramatic visionary and he is mellow, steady, practical, and incredibly loving and spiritual. We've been through a lot together...

My old friends and my family don't get me at all. I really want to be able to connect with them on a deeper level and it feels like that is impossible. I get tired of being the odd one. I was always the black sheep or good entertainment. People wanted me to show off my various talents - art, poetry, sign language, etc., but they don't really understand me or my heart or my soul's purpose. This is very difficult for me.

And because I am such an introvert and always felt misunderstood, it is very difficult for me to make friends and maintain friendships. I live in my head a lot of the time. I'm not good at trying new things or being spontaneous so I think I miss out on a lot of fun and cool opportunities. But I'm getting better!

My ability to think outside the box and tap into my imagination and creativity. I'd go nuts if I couldn't create art...I love trying to figure out ways to synthesize different subjects into a new creation.

I usually create fairly intuitively. I have lots and lots of ideas but they rarely turn out the way I originally envision them. I like to work improvisationally with little preplanning. I'm not too great at following directions! LOL...I get bored easily and I always have a a million things going at once. Every surface in my house is stacked with something!

Wow, favorite books....there are so many!! I love SARK's new book about living your creative dreams.I am utterly absorbed in Cracking the Millionaire Code right now and really feel that it is going to change my life. Sacred Space by Denise Linn is incredible and The Little Book of Letting Go by Hugh Prather. I'm mostly reading non-fiction right now although I have been a voracious fiction reader most of my life. I am also a total music junkie. I spend most of my money on books and CDs!