Corley [kor-li] - proper noun

or,

events and such that define my being 5-10

- When I was very young I had very high fever, and because of it I had a seizure. When treatment was all over I was the youngest person in my family to have had a drug addiction. I don't remember it, but apparently withdrawal from phenobarbital is a bitch.

- Looking back at how the mind develops through childhood, I particularly like the time I had to get stitches in my forehead best of all. I was in the passenger seat of my dad's truck, I was waiting in it, parked in the driveway, while my dad had gone into the house to get something. During this time the balloon I had been playing with, made its way over to the floor boards of the driver's side of the truck. My little 4 year old brain couldn't realize that I could just move to the driver's side, reach down and grab the balloon. I had only ever been on the passenger side, through the passenger door. I had only ever seen my dad on the driver's side, and he got in through the driver's door - follow my logic? I got out and went to run around the back of the truck, only, I didn't realize the tailgate was down and I hit it hard. So hard that I fell over and gashed my head open. One way to learn to just scoot over.

- About six months later my Grandmother, Annie Tannie, died. Her funeral was the on the same day me pre-K class talked about the letter C. Can you see how this was confusing, too? I had been so excited - C! My name starts with C! There is a very nice watercolor sketch of a white cat next the the C! on the wall! I like cats! I was there for A and B, and the - D? Scarred for life. Now we all know why So-so Def (my ex's cat) and I never got along. After a few months, my parents were finally able to convince me Annie Tannie wasn't ever coming back. One weekend we went to the house where she and her husband had lived to visit him, Poppy Tom ( As the first grandchild I got to be the kid calling the shots. I like titles made up of two names.), and I was so confused! There she was - sitting in the living room! She was talking to Poppy Tom, my parents, and me - and she was NEVER coming back! ? The little wheels in my head first peeled out, and then came to a grinding halt. It was way too much for me. And then she leaned over and said in the sweetest way you can possibly tell a small child that you are not the one person that they want to see most in the universe, "Corley Ann, I am not your Annie Tannie." She wasn't. She was Tannie's sister, Sara. This is where I believe I began to cry. And if I didn't then, it is where I begin to cry every time I tell the story (even right now). I really wanted it to be her. I had been wishing on every shooting star, in every night's prayer, I still wish it had been her. That moment is vividly burned in my mind, I can see Aunt Sara's silhouette (it was kind of dark), and I can hear her Southern sing-song voice - that sounded just like Annie Tannie's - saying "Ah" instead of "I."

I have to limit it like this to keep from over burdening myself emotionally. This is not what I originally expected to write! I was think of something much more brief - oops!

Maybe next time I'll do 5-10 years, if I can take it.