December 20. Not a very important day in a historical sense. My admittedly very brief research only turned up 2 things that caught my eye. On that date in 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. Many years later, in 1957, Elvis received his draft papers for the US military, and served 2 years. Fast forward 20 short years, to 1977, Elvis died in August of this year and then you get to another historic event, the day I was born!
It wasn’t a dark and stormy night. It was simply a day like any other. Until the moment my mother went into labor. And she knew exactly what it was because she had been through it 3 times before. My parents already had 3 boys, and even though gender determination through ultrasounds was available in 1977 my parents thought for sure they'd have another boy. All of my older brothers’ old baby clothes were laid out at home waiting for me and they had even chosen a name- Donald Christopher. To be named after my Maternal Grandfather Donald Kahler.
About my labor and delivery I know nothing. I do know that as soon as I was born my dad asked the doctor, "how is he?" and the doctor answered in a surprised tone, "It's a girl!" I guess they had even the doctor believing I'd be a boy.
My Father owned his own business and had to call in a friend for reinforcements. He called in a close family friend named Linda, who understood all about these things because she had 3 sons of her own. Once everything had calmed down sufficiently my Father called Linda to give her the good news. That instead of a Donald Christopher they had been ‘blessed’ with a Donna Kristina! Linda’s daily struggle with 3 boys at home and her own desire for a daughter unfortunately defined her retort. In front of all of my Dad’s customers she screamed into the telephone, “I HATE YOU!!” and slammed the receiver down, effectively hanging up on him. They laughed about that for years. I regret to say that she never did have her daughter. But 3 years later she did have another son, who was my closest friend for many years. Happily, she has now been blessed with 3 grand daughters.
After my Dad’s adventurous phone call he felt hungry, which to anyone who knew my Dad would not be surprising. My dad associated happiness with food, and to this day eating is a very social activity for me as well. So he went to the nearest restaurant, told everyone there that he’d just had a baby girl, and proceeded to place a huge order. A large steak, potatoes, salad, veggies. When the food finally arrived he said it was the most delicious looking meal he had ever seen, but he never took one bite. The happy excitement had finally given way to reality. He had a baby girl. His excitement and apprehension left him, for the only time I know of in his life, without an appetite.
My parents dealt with having me of course. My bedroom was re-papered with a print containing huge pink flowers. That’s probably a big reason why I’m only just now starting to like pink again. I still wore my brother’s old hand-me-downs, but I did have many dresses thrown in for good measure. When my hair refused to grow for the first several years my Mother taped a big bow on my head so people would know she had finally had a girl. I had a girlie nickname, Tina, and wasn’t too much of a tomboy. I did learn to eat quickly and hide any leftover food if I wanted to eat it later because my brothers were food thieves. But overall my parents handled me very well. I wish I could say I’ve always handled myself well, but my life has been and will continue to be a learning process. But as of December 20, 2010, I am happy and content.
Happy Almost Birthday!
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