Tomboy
Tiny Memoir #8
by Tamsin 🍂 🐸 🪞
“Are you a boy or a girl?” they used to ask. I was ambiguous and my answer confused. ‘I am just me.’ Why did it matter? My outwards demeanour gave no hints, mucky clothes, dirty face, long tangled hair, ‘Have you been pulled through a hedge backwards?’ the adults used to say.
I didn’t understand what they meant, hedges are for going through forwards. My pale skin grew tanned from hours of running through fields, and woods. Building twig dams in tiny streams, climbing trees I grew strong and agile, swinging from thick ancient branches. I could walk through a field of nettles and not be stung; my superpower. I was wild then, rarely still, constantly exploring, more fae than human, I didn’t care, gave no hoots, I just lived. Home was merely a place to sleep and eat, I existed wholly outdoors, in the green, alone, and I loved it. More faerie than child, existing perfectly, fully, in the green.
Tamsin lives in Yorkshire; chronically ill, autist, non binary. They love it when the sun shines and the world glows and love spinning at the top of the moors when all that can be heard is the birds and the wind. Errant thoughts often make them smile wryly.
Submissions to Tiny Memoir are currently closed, and will re-open in April. If you have not heard back yet about your Fall submission, we are still considering it.
This reminds me so much of my own daring, exploratory childhood, without thought or even knowledge of what was “right” for my gender. Lovely.
I, too, have fond memories of a wild childhood - before the masking began, before the social unraveling, before the feeling of disconnect sat in. A beautiful tiny memoir. It brought me back to those good days in tune with nature. Thank you :)