Made, Not Born

You’re not born a Trekkie, or a Whovian, or a gamer, or a film buff. Through a combination of nature versus nurture, an average kid grows up and goes to conventions or makes a career creating or chasing what they are fanatic about.

I started at a ripe young age when I discovered Darkwing Duck. Not only was it the first show I could never miss after preschool (I was four) it was my first venture into what I learned later was “cosplay” (I pinned a baby blanket around my neck and bounced around whatever furniture was in the room while singing along to the opening song.) My prized possession when I went off to Kindergarten a year later was the Darkwing Duck watch my grandmother bought for me, and I continued to wear religiously for a long time afterward.

The things I really came to love were often associated with a happy memory of spending time with family, or meeting other people who loved the same thing. Nights of insomnia spent watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with my dad on it’s first run, or the summer afternoons watching its syndication with my brother. Bonding over Firefly with coworkers in college or catching Avatar: The Last Airbender with my husband on Netflix the first year we were married.

And in all honesty, were it not for these creations coming into my life, I might never have become a writer or started drawing or engaged in any of the “creative” work that I’ve done so far and hope to continue.

It’s not as exciting an origin story as the superheroes I grew up with, but everybody starts somewhere. How about you?

~The Myrrick

 Darkwing-Duck-Digital-Art-Painting