My name is Barbara Le-Anne Sandusky, and I will be 14 in a few months (March 16). I was born in a tiny town in Louisiana (Church Point; it's nothing more than a little speck, it's that small, and many people haven't heard of it), and when I was 6, I lost my parents in a hurricane (they died in the storm surge; they drowned).
I was an only child back then; didn't have any in the way of brothers or sisters. I kinda' wish it were STILL like that; that way, I didn't have to share my things with little sisters, and I am kinda' touchy about people getting into my things, you know?
When I was 9, I was adopted into the family I live with now; and I not only had to get used to a new set of parents; but to the idea of having brothers and sisters. I grew to love my brothers and sisters very much, but I wasn't used to sharing a room with two littler sisters, and I wasn't used to living with handicapped kids. (A lot of my brothers and sisters are handicapped, either physically or mentally; but some..like Jodie, Todd, and Roberto, as three examples..are BOTH physically AND mentally handicapped.)
Back then, there were only 9 kids when I joined the family, but the family has since grown by leaps and bounds; and I had to get used to having new brothers and sisters; and I had to get used to dealing wih language barriers day in and day out. Oh, I could speak French and all, but I didn't know a thing about speaking in Vietnamese, Spanish, Dutch, Croatian, African, Japanese, or Korean. I had to have mommy translate what the Korean/African/Japanese/Vietnamese/Dutch/Croatian/Spanish (Mexican or South American) kids said to me. I also had to deal with different disabilities: cerebral palsy, mental retardation, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, arthritis, asthma or other respiratory ailments, blindness, deafness.
Each day proved to be a challenge, and it was hard at first, but eventually, I learned to fit in to my new family, and I grew to love each of my new brothers and sisters very much. Now it's gotten to the point to where I can't imagine my life without ANY of them!
i love the way you write, karen...it's like you've gotten into the minds of your characters. you take us into their lives...their emotions and daily life are made vividly real...excellent job! (((HUGS))) and love, karla. :)
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
