An anemone.

When I was in the third grade, my teacher, Mrs. Arnold, asked our class to research and draw our favorite animals for an art/writing assignment. We were each to write a sentence or two about our chosen animal and provide a colorful illustration of the animal in its habitat. I remember being quite delighted by the assignment, because this was the sort of thing I did to entertain myself regularly at home--I was a strange and precocious kid.
Anyway, a day or two passed in which I vigorously sketched, re-sketched, and researched my animal, and finally it came time to post our masterpieces on the bulletin board at the back of the classroom. Among my classmates' Crayola drawings of cats, dogs and ponies, I proudly tacked up my sketch of the majestic sea anemone...
Thus beginning a stigmatism that lasted until I graduated from high school and left my hometown.