This is very thought-provoking. Thanks for the opportunity to address this, raging.

I've been aware, pretty much all of my life, that since I have a powerful creative side, I would probably never conform to normal expectations that other people carry around with them. So I am a seasoned non-conformist. Dropping into child-like daydreams, fantasies, and play are kind of essential to me, to keep my creative juices flowing. I have never bent to pressure to let that side of myself go (and there has been some, from surprising directions!).

And yet, I'm a very responsible person, and have been since I first started babysitting in my early teens. And kids seem to really like me, perhaps because I never forgot what it was like to be a kid. I'm very natural and at-ease around them. I loved being a teacher-in-training, and do still wish my life had gone differently, so I could have fulfilled that urge to teach, and nurture young minds.

But I just sort of sense when it's time to pull myself up and be an adult and get on with grown-up tasks and behaviour. This might come from the fact that I was expected to carry so much on my shoulders, starting from a fairly young age, as my little sister had multiple disabilities, and Mom had all the rest of us doing helpful chores from early on---younger than many of my friends. Gradually, most of those chores sort of fell onto me, permanently; brother and youngest sister got 'passes', on a lot of it, because they were actually permanently, constitutionally irresponsible; and in my sister's case, mind-bendingly selfish, and self-absorbed, as well.

Nowadays, it's just husband and myself, because I never had any children (wanted to, desperately). If I don't do it, it's not going to get done. And that wouldn't be a good thing. So I find I can change gears fairly easily, as there is no one else to pick up the ball.