Jayla (My Story)

Jayla

FIRST PERSON POV

     Now, at six months old I still won't roll over. Won't hold my head up on my own. All I do is lay on my back and watch the ceiling fan spin. If you watch it long enough it looks like it's turning the opposite direction. Everyone says I am unable to learn but that's just not true. Why didn't I do what was expected of me? I really don't know, my memory is not that good. I bet yours isn't either. However, knowing who I am now I would guess the reason is because it was what was expected. You never get what's expected from me.
 
  "Come on Jayla" Eden coxed pushing on my left side trying to get me to roll. She would do this time and time again until finally I was doing it on my own. Then she started putting me on my stomach and pushing my feet to make me crawl. By the time I was a year old I was right on schedule. I still had trouble eating though. I just didn't want it. Eden tried everything to get me to eat when nothing else worked she started using my emotions agenst me.
    " Look Jayla." She'd say on her sad voice. " These peas are crying u ate their friends and they want to go to."

I was a soft hearted child I didn't want to think of anything crying so I slowly ate the rest of the peas.
    " Now the carrots are crying to go with the peas." She would say. And before I knew it I had cleaned my plate.

           There are a few things to make clear before my story continues. Just so it doesn't start to seem weird or get confusing. Eden and Eddie wanted to adopt Jess, Jena and myself. Which meant daddy had to sign his rights away also. He did but he never gave up his title. This is where it gets confusing sometimes. Jona in my life is Jona. When I say mama I am talking about Eden, my biological dad's mother and my adopted mother. The only mother I ever knew since Jona had better things to do with her life than to be apart of mine. I have two dads biological and adopted  I'll specify who I'm talking about throughout my story because they are both dad to me. OK so back to the story then.
         
                   My early childhood after the adoption was about as normal as anyone could ask for. It was a truly happy time in my life.
   Standing on the front porch of our brick home I noticed little pieces of the ceiling had fallen down. I run into the house as fast as my three year old legs would carry me. I needed to find something to put these pieces in. I saw the top of my mom's sock sticking out of her shoe. Perfect. I grab the sock and ran back outside and began picking up the little piece of ceiling and stuffing them down In the sock.
" What you doing, Fat Baby?" My (a) dad asks
I turned around with an ear to ear grin  holding up Mama's sock with my treasure inside.
"What you got?" He asked me
"I got five little farts in Mama's sock." I told him not really understanding why he started laughing so hard.
He turns around still laughing and walks back inside. So I go back to stuffing Mama's sock. A few minutes later Mama's standing behind me.
" What you doing with my sock Fat Baby?"
" I got five little farts in there." I told her without turning around to look at her. To my surprise she was laughing now and my (a) dad was standing in the doorway laughing again.

   Why are they laughing at me?  I wondered.  It upset me that they were laughing at me and I didn't know why.    I bet they didn't have any farts in mamas sock and if they did they never said anything to me about it. I felt like I had done something and all they did was stand there and laugh. I didn't like it so I dropped the sock and took off to find something else to do.

      It was a warm summer day, 1990. I was in the back yard with my Uncle Terry feeding the chickens. A mama hen had came off the nest with five baby chicks. I looked in the nest at the chick that didn't follow the others. It was flopping around in the nest when I picked it up I noticed it's leg was broken.
  " Why did the mama just leave it?" I asked
" Because it's hurt." He told me
" Will she come back?" I looked at the baby all alone I thought it must be scared.
"No baby she won't come back for it." He told me and turned around to go back to the house. I picked up the chick and cradled it in my hands following him.
" What are you doing?" He asked me turning to look at me. " There is nothing we can do for it. Something's wrong with it, it's useless."
   I held the baby in my little hands and tears fell from my eyes. I thought about myself. I had something wrong with my legs too.
" Uncle Terry," I said sobbing. He stopped and knelt down in front of me pulling me onto his knee.
"What's wrong Fat Baby, why are you crying?" He asked me wrapping his arms around me.
"Am I useless? Is that why Jona didn't want me? Should they have just left me?" I asked him.
" Oh Jayla, no baby you are perfectly the way God made you. Your special." He answered squeezing me tight.
" So it's perfectly the way God made it .Special too right? Can I keep it?" I asked.
"Of course you can and you are absolutely right." He told me. "You are a very smart little girl"  he said.
" I know." I said and ran to the house smiling as big as I could.
   
     The chick didn't live very long I tried everything I could I gave it water and smashed up worms through a dropper but I went out one day and found it in the nest. I looked at it crying but at least it felt loved while it was alive.
" My (B) dad came over and put the nest in a shoe box. I poked holes in it so the chick could breath and taped down the top so nothing could get to the baby. We buried it in the back yard. As I stood there looking at the mound of dirt at my feet I cried.
"Daddy, do you think chick went to heaven?" I looked at him waiting for an answer.
" I do and u know, in heaven there is nothing wrong with her at all." He told me. I loved my daddy so much he always said the right things to make me feel better. I didn't understand why he didn't live with me like other kids dad's, or why I had two dads and mom's when other kids only had one. My real mom, as people call her, hadn't been around at all I couldn't tell you what she even looked like. But I had a mom and she was the best. I also had a great Stepmom Lisa since my (B) dad had gotten remarried. Now I have a little brother Landon. Daddy says I'm gonna have another brother too because Lisa has a baby growing in her belly. His name will be Jamey. I was excited.