Once I went to school, I became more comfortable around other children my age. Still, all through school I remember my peers saying I talked like an adult and knew many words they had never heard of. This was not deliberate because I preferred to fit in with my peers, but, as Adler points out (in Stein), an only child will often talk more like an adult because he or she communicates more with adults than with peers.

Socially, I remember always being very independent, and not wanting, or needing, to have a lot of people around me. Sometimes I actually disliked having people around, especially uninvited ones. I liked doing things by myself, and still do. I did have friends, but never a lot of them; it was more like one at a time. My best friend (was when I was about eight or nine years old) was a...
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