Autism and ADHD lol The things constantly bouncing around and being juggled in my brain is just.... It's a lot lol If I don't allow my brain to indulge in creation, it drowns in research which only feeds the need for more creation. Kiddo has a great mind for imagination / storytelling. My brain just doesn't work that way, it's more mechanical. He expresses himself through story, I create to express myself and tell a different kind of story.
As an autistic person I don't really have culture, I have ancestry. I don't identify as German like my father or Scottish as my mother or Blackfoot and Crow as my maternal Great great grandmother. I'm autistic. But I do carry on cooking traditions of my ancestors and in the process express myself in the creation of my traditional foods. When I prepare these meals it's a very different feeling than just every day food. I make my own sauerkraut, I grow my own potatoes. But potatoes are more connected to my Blackfoot and Crow roots than any German connections even though they didn't grow potatoes.
Yet my research on growing potatoes pre contact allows me to connect with my roots of hunting and gathering as I use locally available materials to test a hypothesis of trade with other local tribes. In addition to gathering supplies for farming I also gather wild plants, berries, roots etc... for cooking.
I don't get to tell fantasy stories. But I can alter reality
Good example: Our 19th anniversary was yesterday. We are not the traditional types, but the brain goes straight to what is the traditional gift. 19 is bronze which is strong and everlasting blah blah blah love something etc... lol
So what has my brain been formulating the last few weeks? Well, I have copper scrap. Tin shouldn't be too hard to find. I can build a mini forge using..... lol It'd start as plans for a bracelet and turn into a lump of worked copper and tin with a "I tried" lol
