McKenna's Story
I’m going to start off telling my story long before I was even a tiny seed growing in my mothers tummy. When my mom was in 7th or 8th grade in home ec class. Waiting for the bell to ring. Signaling the end of class. She and her friends were talking about when they grew up, got married, and had children. She first wanted to have a boy. She wanted her daughter to have a big brother. She had a big brother and hers was so great. Then she would have a girl. She wanted her son to have a little sister. She didn’t want to have a lot of children. Because her cousin’s families had a lot of children. And it seemed impossible for her cousin’s families to go out on trips or to go anywhere. Simply, because there was just to many of them. She loved going to her cousin’s house. There was always people to see and stuff to do. She didn’t want her family to be like that. She never thought about having children again. After that, until she grew up and got married. But she always remembered that conversation with her friends.
One night when my mom was pregnant with me. She and my dad were sitting watching t.v. while my brother was playing with his toys. They were watching this movie called Somewhere In Time starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve. There was a part in the movie were Elise McKenna's manager called her McKenna. So my parents decided to name me McKenna. That’s how I got my name. I guess you could say I was named after the movie Somewhere In Time. When I was in middle school. I went on the internet to do some research on the movie. I found out that the movie was based on a real Broadway actress who lived during the turn of the century. Her name was Maude Adams.
Now I’ll tell you about my birth. Up to now. I was born on Sunday December 2, 1984 in the morning. During a really bad blizzard. I was born three months early. And only weighed a pound and a half. And fourteen inches long. I almost died. I would stop breathing twenty times a day. You might think that it was a disadvantage for me to be starting out in life so small. But it wasn’t. My great grandma Kloss started a prayer chain for me. She had everybody praying for me. She wrote to the nuns and monks she knew about. My family would always joke about my great grandma Kloss having a hotline to heaven. I guess in a way you could say she did have a hotline to heaven. One day my mom found this pink satin star in the hospital gift shop. That said “Miracles Happen To Those Who Believe”. She got it and hung it up by the incubator I was in. And there was a miracle. Because I lived. My life was like a gift from God. I was like the cutting edge of technology. I was born with a disability called Cerebral Palsy. I’ve gotten judged unfairly by people through out my life. I have also been teased. Some of the times when I got judged were when I was still in school. I’ll tell you about them. There were times in the past when people would shield me like I needed to be looked out for or they would treat me like a little girl. A lot of times people talked to me like I was a little girl or needed to be taken care of. When I was eighteen and I could take care of myself. In high school I really wanted to be a cheerleader even though the movement stuff was hard because I have Cerebral Palsy. The person that was the cheerleading coach at the time wouldn’t even let me try to be a cheerleader. I tried to be in a lot of different activities in high school but never got picked. I tried out for cheerleading,plays,surround sound, and lots of music things, but they were all try out’s so I never got picked to do them. There was something I really wanted to do helping kids coming from the middle school but the kids who did the helping had to be nominated and so of course I didn’t get nominated. I felt really hurt about it too. And I thought I was good at helping other people. And if the kids were getting teased or were having trouble fitting in, don’t you think it would have been good to have somebody in the link program that really understood what it was like getting teased at and had some experience in that. I’m sure freshmen did get teased. If they only picked the kids who were cool and popular to help they wouldn’t really understand what it was like because they didn’t have that problem. It wasn’t just school activities either. Someone invited all my friends to a Halloween party but not me and that really hurt. I got left out like that a lot. People would make plans and leave me out. They would invite each other over to their houses but not invite me. I might have started out being part of the plan but lots of times then they would find a way to leave me out at the last minute. I didn’t get asked to dances or anything by boys either. And if I asked a boy to a dance they would always say no. So I have learned how to be by myself a lot and still be okay with it otherwise I would have always been unhappy and not have gotten to go anywhere and miss out on everything. Just recently something happened a couple months ago were I was treated and judged unfairly. It certainly hasn’t been the first time were I was treated and judged unfairly and it certainly won’t be the last. It really hurt those few months ago. To be treated and judged unfairly. The people wouldn’t even listen to me or to what I had to say. They just ignored me. I know that God is always with me and there’s angels looking out for me especially my great grandma Kloss. As well as my parents. So I just kind of get through each day the best way I can. I would pick someone for me by just being friends at first and getting to know them. Physical attractiveness is part of liking somebody but mostly that they are nice to me. I think I would like someone who is opposite of me like not as quite because it is harder for me when I’m with quieter people than me. I don’t care if they are popular because to me popularity doesn’t matter. I have seen people who are really popular but are not really nice, so as long as they are nice it doesn’t matter if they are popular. They fit my criteria just if they are nice. Also if they accept me for who I am and want to get to know me just the way I am, and my disability doesn’t matter to them. If it doesn’t matter to them that I am not popular then it wouldn’t matter to me if they aren’t either. My parents helped me understand that it’s what’s inside a person that counts because they’ve brought me up that way. I want someone to recognize that I am beautiful just the way I am and who I am. It’s to bad our society feels that they have to base everything on the way a person looks, what their religion is, the color of their skin, and other stereotypical things. Instead, of who a person is on the inside. I guess that’s just the way our society will be. Until they can learn to except people for who they are. Instead, of what they are. Anyway, miracles happen to those who believe. There's hope that our society will change someday.
I would like to dedicate this story in loving memory to my great grandma Kloss. For her hotline to heaven. I would also like to dedicate this story in memory of Anne Frank. For inspiration even though it came many years after her death.