"Wednesday's Child Is Full Of Woe...

... You see the injustice and unfairness around you. You're the one who'll make a difference in your world."

Is it Nature or Circumstance that ultimately dictates who we are? What type of person we develop into? I suppose it's a combination of both, after all we inherit our genetic makeup from our parents. Yet, our personality traits are conditioned by the environment we live in, even though the foundation existed long before we were born.

And so it is, that I the middle-child, having no other siblings directly before or after me like my brothers and sisters had; decided to get myself one at the age of 6. His name was Turra (meaning stubborn, rebel, headstrong) and he would become my long lost twin brother... or so I wanted to think.

I asked my Mother one day just in case there was something I was never told. The answer rather than clearing my doubt really only served to stir it up further. Somehow, there was always this feeling in me that something was missing. And although I was probably right, it went beyond the grief I felt for my Father. It was a desire for companionship that, as much as we were fairly close, I could not get from my siblings.

Turra grew up inside and alongside me. He shared the precious moments and the darkest hours. His coming into existence forced out of necessity. To me he was real and he was mine.

Sommer B. In't Veld © 2005