As a child I had big dreams. I was a big fan of Dolly Parton, and often imagined that I would also become a country singer later, with the corresponding bosom (both dreams never came true). Maybe it's because of my roots: I was born in Austin, Texas. My parents lived in America for 8 years and my oldest sister and I were born there. When I was not yet two years old, we moved back to the Netherlands. We lived in Reeuwijk, later in Mijdrecht. I had a nice childhood. Of course there were struggles in our family, but I think that only made me wiser. I can count myself lucky: I realize that all too well. Every house has its cross, but one has more baggage than the other.<\/p>\n
When I was eleven, I was bullied a lot at school. My best friend had moved and lived near a classmate, with whom she cycled to school from that moment on. They became friends, and the classmate didn't want me there. As a result, she not only excluded me from the friendship with my bestie, but I allowed the whole class to exclude me.<\/p>\n
I say I let it happen, because on closer inspection that was really the case. I wanted nothing more than to remain friends with my bff, and was not at all open to new friendships. And that had consequences\u2026. Except for a few children, no one wanted to play with me. It was a hard lesson, which lasted a school year, but at a much later age I gained so much insight from it that I am still grateful for it. Sometimes you are responsible for what happens to you, and that was really the case for me. I had a choice of 30 children, but wanted to be friends with 1. It happened to me again later: in high school I was close friends with a girl who lived near us. We did everything together. Going out, playing sports (running, and getting fries right afterwards), hanging out, and going to school. I didn\u2019t want any of that to change. Until she fell in love: of course I suddenly wasn\u2019t that important anymore. I was on my own again. I had put all my 'money' on that one friendship, and that turned out to be a bad choice. I apparently needed this lesson twice.<\/p>\n
I can be alone incredibly well, I even need it very much, but I cannot live without connection with others. Connection is super important to me. As a photographer, that is a great advantage. I do everything I can to connect with you. But at the same time I am super sensitive to your boundaries (if I were to cross them, I would certainly not connect with you). So every life lesson has its advantages. I don't know if I would have ended up in the same place without these lessons. And the place where I am: it fits me like a glove. <\/p>\n
Vriendschap is een illusie- of niet? Als kind had ik grote dromen. Ik was groot fan van Dolly Parton, en stelde me regelmatig voor dat ik later ook countryzangeres zou worden, met bijbehorende boezem (beide dromen zijn nooit uitgekomen). Misschien komt het door mijn roots: ik ben geboren in Austin, Texas. Mijn ouders hebben 8 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-verhalen"],"yoast_head":"\n