beginning

in which we meet the main character and learn a little something about her.

In the time that I’ve been on this big green planet I’ve come to learn a thing or two. The first is that no matter how unfair it may seem, there ain’t one person on this earth that wasn’t born with at least one flaw or imperfection. Sure, some people might have it worse than others, but it don’t really matter in the long run. Because the truth is we need those flaws. They define us. Without them, we wouldn’t know how to truly appreciate the lives we live. Second is that it takes not having a voice to truly learn how to speak.

I’ve never had a voice. I don’t know if it quite works this way, but I swear to you I knew it from the day I was born. At least my momma knew it. I came out silent as ever, but I wasn’t peaceful. I was crying with my face all red just like all the other babies, but there was no noise.

It didn’t take long for the doctor to figure out the problem. “You’re baby’s got no vocal chords,” he told my mamma. He expected her to cry, to yell, to do something loud and angry because she was a large southern woman and that’s what he was used to. But she just looked at me, wet and crying silent tears and taking in my first glimpses of the world through squinting eyes, and she laughed. It wasn’t an angry laughter, either. It was a happy laugh, a laugh that brought tears, a laugh that was thankful for what the Lord had given her, a laugh that didn’t care if her baby girl could speak or not. It was that laugh that started something great.

Author's Note

please comment on what you think of it! anything i should change/improve/remove/etc? thanks!