Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado, click
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Blogs by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
i write because i enjoy it! :) 7/7/2003 3:45:03 PM
Feel free to stop by my den and read my stuff! I write mainly fiction, but I write about real-life situations that people experience. I also write about disability issues because I am physically handicapped myself, and I want to raise awareness about what disabled people such as myself face in their day to day lives. Hi!
Thank you for allowing me to start blogging, and thank you for allowing me to share my works with you. I have had much in the way of support for my works, and I am forever grateful for all who have stopped by!
For those newer people who aren't familiar with me, I am 44 years old (just turned), and I am a twin. (My twin is Karla J. Dorman. I live with her; we share an apartment in Burleson, Texas, which is below Fort Worth.) My twin sister and I both work at Golden Corral, and she has been there for nearly 6 years while I have been there for nearly 3 1/2. It isn't the best paying of jobs, but we are grateful to just to be WORKING. We are 11 minutes apart in age and we are what is known as mirror twins. She is left-handed while I am right-handed. We are fraternal twins, but we look an awful lot alike (but people still don't have a lot of difficulty telling us apart, as Karla is taller and heavier; always has been, ever since day one! :P ) We were born in Ohio, but Karla has lived in Texas for 20 years (she joined the Air Force to travel, but never left Texas, she jokes!), and I have lived in Texas for only 4. I like Texas' people, but the weather and the bugs are a lot to be desired. The weather is either too hot (especially in the summer; summers here are stifling hot!) or stormy (especially in the spring; we live in the middle of Tornado Alley, and there are very few in the way of basements; it doesn't make ANY sense whatsoever!! :( ), and the winters aren't cold enough for my Ohio bones! I am used to SNOW and COLD; NOT thunderstorms or MILD stuff! Sure, I have arthritis, and sure my joints hurt in the winter, but I function a LOT better in COLD weather than I do HOT! :(
Karla and I are both physically disabled. We both have arthritis and walk with assistance (she uses a cane, me, a forearm crutch), and Karla and I are also both hard of hearing and have vision problems and wear thick glasses. (We were both born three months premature; she weighed 2 pounds, and I, a "whopping" pound-and-a-half! LOL We weren't expected to survive--me, especially--but somehow, by God's Grace, we did, and we are still here, 44 years later! We are living Miracles! :) ) Karla also has sciatica, nerve damage, back problems (she has endured one back surgery already), and, more recently, fibromyalgia. But despite being disabled, we both still work (a lot of disabled people don't); we have to, in order to pay our bills. We often go without, but somehow God always manages to provide when we need it the most, and for that I am really grateful!
Karla started writing on September 11, 2001, and I started writing on May 3, 2002, but the Gift for writing was given to me on September 11. She just got started sooner was all! LOL We haven't stopped since! Karla has written over 400 poems, 13 short stories, and nearly 50 articles here at AD, and I have written 590 short stories (as of today; I did two stories today!), over 340 poems, and 48 articles (or something like that! LOL). It is incredible of what God has given to us, and it is because of our writing that we both found AD and made many wonderful friends from all over the world. We now have friends not only from the United States and Canada; we also have friends in Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia!
Now you may notice that a lot of my stuff has to do with disability issues. Maybe it's 'cause I am disabled, I don't know; but I want to teach other people that it isn't nice or right to laugh or make fun of those people who are handicapped because they can become handicapped themselves one day, when they least expect it. I know; it happened to me (the arthritis). And it happened to Karla. Now we both have chronic health problems that often make us feel bad, and we have to endure people's rude comments, stupid questions, or even discrimination. It isn't easy being handicapped, but God is teaching me to endure and realize that even though Karla or I may have our problems, we aren't nearly as bad off as are many people. And I have learned to accept people and look inside their hearts and not just on the outer surface. I have also made some friends who share a common thread with Karla and myself, and they have opened our eyes in terms of disability. I have friends who have spina bifida, asthma, epilepsy, are paralyzed, or are deaf/hard of hearing, and they have all taught me much about living with physical disabilities. I also have learned that many people have it far worse and suddenly my or Karla's problems don't seem so bad, even when they threaten to overwhelm us!
Welcome to my world, and welcome to the world of the disabled. It may not be pretty at times, and at times it may make you uncomfortable, but it is what we have had to learn to live with at times, and I want you to know that even though we are disabled, we are people, too, and we deserve as much respect and dignity and compassion as anyone else who is normal (but then, what IS "normal"??)!
