Klara, My Mini Me
Mar 19 2010
Everyone who sees Klara always has the same remark, "Wow, she looks just like her mother." What they don't know is that God didn't stop at just looks. This girl has her mama hardwired into every cell of her being.
My family used to say that I inherited the "ham gene." That meant that, somehow, some way, I was gentically predisposed to act like a fool. And the more attention, the better. I can hear my daddy now, "Good Lord, Hannah, quit showing your tail!"
Note: I was not actually "showing my tail." That's a southern expression for acting like a fool. And I can do it well. Oh, mama. I can show my tail with the best of them.
So can Klara.
She frequently puts on plays here. It's a pretty detailed process. Sometimes she actually takes it so far that she writes down lines on little pieces of paper and hands them out to family members. In one play that she put on last month, we all had to stand outside of the living room in a line and hop in chanting, "boom! boom! boom!" Keep in mind that there is no audience. It's just us--her family, standing in line and hopping into the living room. Now that's love right there!
She's the director. She's the one standing on the side with her brows furrowed and a look of scorn on her face. She's never too pleased with our performances. It just doesn't meet her expectations. But, we're it, so she's just got to deal.
I'm not seeing any struggling actors lining up outside our door waiting to perform in one of Klara's plays--yet.
In another play, she actually had an audience. The only actors were her and her baby sister, Kenna. Kenna was Helen Keller. Klara was Anne Sullivan. The part where Anne spelled "water" in Helen's hand definitely tugged at your heart strings, especially when Kenna (sorry, Helen) was sitting there looking at us with a smile on her face, picking her nose. Helen, really. I expected a little more out of you.
Last night, we had another play. Klara called it "Shark Attack." She put up posters all over the house.
Yes, I do realize she spelled "Shark Attack," "Hcork Otak." I believe she was using a little creative license with her spelling. You know, kind of like "The Pursuit of Happyness" or "I'm gonna get you suka."
During the play, Karis, Korben, and Kyler were growing tired of waiting backstage while she acted out an attack scene between herself and Kenna (Klara was a shark, Kenna was a goldfish, go figure). By the way, backstage means the hall in front of the living room. So in a fit of boredom, the three boys decided to turn the play into a musical by putting their hands on their heads, humming bars of "The Sugar Plum Fairies," and spinning into the room.
Klara was livid!
She burst into tears and shouted, "I just can't work with you people!"
It's okay, Klara. I understand. Of all people, I understand.
You'll have your time to shine, baby girl. For now, you got to work with what you've got.
And you've got us.
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