On a summer day five years ago, I discovered an envelope tucked away in the corner of the drawer in the kitchen. One glance and I knew exactly what it was, and without wasting any time I defiantly tore open the envelope. Enclosed in the envelope was a family surprise, one that was intended to remain a secret until the baby was born. I, being the tricky twelve-year-old that I was, thought it pretty savvy of myself to have effortlessly stumbled upon such an important document. However, things quickly backfired on me as I unfolded the paper inside, and my eyes met the exact four letter word I did not want to see: “GIRL!” My aspirations for transforming my baby brother into an ice hockey prodigy immediately dissolved. Moreover, I was now going
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Now imagine the high pitched shrill of an angry infant, two other sisters arguing in the background, a stressed out Mom trying to keep the peace and an overwhelmed terrier endlessly barking at all of the commotion. This was my new life. And I loved it. I found myself fascinated by a life that was so simple, yet one that could cause such distress. Everything Kellan was hard to pin down. My Mom subscribed to multiple companies who seemed to think they have mastered the timetable of childhood development. Each week my Mom received emails that went something like: “Congratulations, your child is now 14 months and 2 weeks old! They should now know how to link words together to form a sentence!” Although these emails are intended for Mother’s who are trying to ensure the best for their child, I initially found them quite misinformed. In a world characterized by individuality, creativity, imperfection; it seemed as though those emails were an attempt to take the uniqueness out of a child’s life. If our experiences define who we are, then how can we possibly apply a timetable to one’s development? I grappled with that for a long time, and I came to the conclusion that , or perhaps my mother was for listening to them. Assigning a date to a child’s development is unfair, because of the unique circumstance of each. I tried to figure out one specific reason why Kellan acted the way she did,
Now imagine the high pitched shrill of an angry infant, two other sisters arguing in the background, a stressed out Mom trying to keep the peace and an overwhelmed terrier endlessly barking at all of the commotion. This was my new life. And I loved it. I found myself fascinated by a life that was so simple, yet one that could cause such distress. Everything Kellan was hard to pin down. My Mom subscribed to multiple companies who seemed to think they have mastered the timetable of childhood development. Each week my Mom received emails that went something like: “Congratulations, your child is now 14 months and 2 weeks old! They should now know how to link words together to form a sentence!” Although these emails are intended for Mother’s who are trying to ensure the best for their child, I initially found them quite misinformed. In a world characterized by individuality, creativity, imperfection; it seemed as though those emails were an attempt to take the uniqueness out of a child’s life. If our experiences define who we are, then how can we possibly apply a timetable to one’s development? I grappled with that for a long time, and I came to the conclusion that , or perhaps my mother was for listening to them. Assigning a date to a child’s development is unfair, because of the unique circumstance of each. I tried to figure out one specific reason why Kellan acted the way she did,