Because I said so

I have a cousin who is mixed and I remember how jealous I used to be of her growing up because she was so pretty with her fair skin and long beautiful hair. What I didn't know at that age is all the pain she had to endure for those very reasons. It's hard enough being a kid, but mixed children tend to have it a little harder because they are more than one race and may continue live a life of torment way beyond school age depending on which race they chose to identify with. I remember being teased because of my glasses, because I was skinny but most of all because of my name. People would call me Ariel the little Mermaid, Oreo (because it rhymes with Aerial) and Earl because it's the fast country was of saying Aerial. It's funny because I am far from school age and I am still being called Earl but I love the nickname now and I adore the three people who call me that nickname. I said that when I had a child, she would have the simplest name, like Amy so no one would missp...

I hate when people tell me something that they were trying to surprise me about. I don't know why I hate it so much but I'm going to try to figure it out right now, while talking to you guys. It's as if the person is not capable of doing anything on their own. Why couldn't they follow through to the end? Would it had hurt you to try a little harder? It would have been such a nice surprise, me finally getting a gift I knew nothing about. Doesn't that sound a lot better than me getting something kind of, sort of like I would have gotten if things would have worked out the way you planned them before you told me about the surprise. Huh? Exactly.