Kara O'Neal
  • Home
  • Books
  • About
  • Blog
  • Coming Soon
  • Newsletter
  • The Story Continues

October 14, 1976

10/19/2014

0 Comments

 
I was exactly fourteen months old on this day.  I have no recollection of it, but it was the first “most important” day in my life apparently.

It was the day she was born.

Her name is…well…let’s call her…Maria.  She was born on a Thursday, in a city that is famous for no reason at all.  Living in Texas for thirty four years still hasn’t provided me with any insight into why that city became so famous.  But…nevertheless…it is.  And we shall endure it.

Maria has black hair, as do her parents, brown eyes, like her father, and an angelic face that prompted the nickname “china doll” by a particularly special person.

She was born with the cord around her neck, quite lucky to have lived through the birth, and was brought to a small house of a stay-at-home mother and a hard-working father.

That fourteen month old, Kara is my name, (But when I was younger, I preferred Victoria.  Isn’t it a grand and feminine-sounding name?), is red-headed, lively, and already talking. I knew not what to expect when my mother and father came home, but I surely hadn’t planned on a sister.

What is a sister anyway, I wondered?

Well, holy cow, it was a baby doll that actually moved!!  So forget those fake ones!

And she cried, too!  And if you smiled just right or made the right noises, she might smile and coo back at you.  And you could bring your mother a diaper when she needed to be changed and chatter at her to keep her from moving all over the place.  Of course, you didn’t know you were inadvertently helping your mother by chattering, you just chattered.  Because certainly this little sister wanted to hear everything you had to say.

She would also, of course, want to do everything you would want to and play with every toy you thought worthy of your time.

But it wouldn’t be long before I understood that, while a little sister provided me with better entertainment than any toy I’d encountered thus far, she was someone I would share my life with.  Someone I would grow up with.  Someone I would love.  And, most importantly, someone I would learn from…as long as I had the wisdom to believe it and the courage to admit it.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    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: kara@karaoneal.com

    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

    Archives

    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    November 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

    RSS Feed

    This blog updates during the week.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.