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Girls Aren't Allowed (Yeah, Right)

4/26/2015

I was not a shy child. Maria definitely was. Wendy definitely WAS NOT.

We complimented each other rather well and have made some lifelong friends because of our compliments.

When we met our friends for the first time, Wendy was still cooing from her baby seat. She got passed around between Jo, Grace, and my mother. But she certainly watched us and our friends whenever we ran into her line of sight.

There were four shiny new playmates for us…three boys and one girl. With Wendy in the mix, we outnumbered the boys…thank God! Of course, Wendy wasn’t big enough to help out - yet - but we girls did pretty good.

Whatever the girls did, the boys wanted a piece of it. And even if the boys tried to make a stand and play without us, they almost always tried to mess up what we were doing. It seemed they couldn't live without us. Or without our huffing and puffing at their interference.

It was cute when the boys tried to stand up to us, but eventually, they would always…

Rock Around The Clock!

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Room At The Inn

4/19/2015

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There is always that one house where everything happens. For us, that house belonged to a family of four.

My dad met these very special friends at his RCIA classes. The wife was the one who always saved a seat for him. I am pretty sure she figured out really quick that Dad needed everything to be saved, including his seat.

I am going to call her Joseph. Jo, for short.

She reminds me of Joseph, Mary’s husband. She always does for everyone else, regardless of how it affects her. She takes a lick and keeps on ticking. Maybe I should think of her as the Energizer Bunny…

No…she’s Joseph.

Her house was where all the action happened. She always had room for everyone and made sure everyone had fun while they were under her roof. It was, in fact, a second home to me and my sisters.

Jo loves first, laughs second, and advises third. Her memory is long and very vivid. One of my favorite things to do was listen to her remember things from her childhood. It made me realize how very important my childhood would be to me. And I did my best to soak up as much of it as I could.

Jo had Halloween parties, and Christmas parties, and Easter egg hunts, and slumber parties, and Just-Because parties. Eventually, the younger girls got into the party planning and began to create their own parties.

One centered around training bras. (But that is another story for a later post.)

If I learned one thing from Jo, it was to pay attention to the people who crossed your path. You never know what gems you might discover hidden inside. And if you got stepped on, so what?

Mary’s husband had one of the most important roles of all. And he takes a back seat in the grand scheme of things. But, without Joseph, things would not have been as “right” as they were.

And that is who she is. A person whose heart and words making everything right.

Jo…a very small name for a larger than life heart.

But, she doesn’t have to wave around a flashy name to make her mark. She does it just by being in the room.

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Kara O'Neal

An author who has too much to say is dangerous.

The subjects on this blog:

Monday Memories -- My Childhood

Wednesday Words -- Books!

To be a guest on my blog:

Contact: [email protected]

Monday Memories: Cast

Kara -- Me
Maria -- sister
Wendy -- sister
Bill -- brother

M'Lynn -- mother
Drummond -- father

Grace -- mother's redheaded friend
Liam -- Grace's husband
Gorgeous (Georgie) -- oldest son and friend
Phillip -- middle son and friend
Andrew -- last child and friend

Jo -- mother's "big idea" friend
Noah -- Jo's husband who builds things
Jack -- oldest son and friend
Roxi -- middle daughter and friend
Lela -- last child and friend

Alex -- friend who travels the country and lives in Dallas
Blossom -- friend who lives in Dallas and sells houses

Miss Holly -- next door neighbor
Kirk -- middle son
Scotty -- youngest son

Lou -- uncle on my dad's side who likes baseball
Evaline -- my dad's sister who's crazy funny
Luke -- oldest son and my cousin
Han -- younger son and my cousin

Clark -- my mother's brother who bleeds maroon

Alexander -- my eldest cousin on my dad's side

Dawn -- cousin on my dad's side that is the same age as Maria