Girl Called Karen by Karen McConnell, Eileen Brand Page B

when she could not express her feelings. This creative outlet made her survival more likely. Regrettably, she was like so many of the young people I worked with – children who had been sexually exploited, raped repeatedly, burned, and battered. Her early years of abuse and neglect were so horrendous that her outlook for the future was very poor, but by tapping into her creative ability, she greatly increased her odds for success.
    Sometimes we think of creativity only in terms of the arts and artistic expression through traditional art forms, but artistic expression can be found in many venues. Casey found an outlet for expressing her individuality through her dress. She was not a follower of the latest fad. She dressed herself from the time she was a little girl in her own unique style. She lived through some pretty tough times with a lot more aplomb than one would expect.
    Donna was the resident who did all the other girls’ hair. She braided my hair and was inordinately proud of how I looked.
    Isaac taught us how to break dance, although perhaps not all that well. It is a lot harder than it looks.
    Benjamin could rap. He was a poet in action. He taught me the beauty of a music style that I had summarily dismissed because of hearing some offensive professional offerings.
    At our shelter, Christmas trees were trimmed, pumpkins carved, rooms decorated, greeting cards designed, kites built, and there were a myriad of other opportunities for young people to explore and grow with creative expression.
    Open the door of creativity for your children. Let them mix the color palette and color outside the box. So much of our youth is spent in conforming to the rules that our creativity gets stifled. If you love to set a beautiful table and prepare a meal with eye appeal, take that extra little time to do so. It frees your creative spirit while modeling creativity in action for your children.
    My Aunt Eileen enjoyed finding unique opportunities for having fun. When the children were young and at that age when they loved repetition, Eileen would tell them to get out their pencils and paper. “Why?” they’d ask. Because they were approaching the sign that said “Draw bridge,” she’d explain. That little joke never failed to entertain them, and they loved having the joke sprung upon friends.
    Parents often find ways of using road signs and advertisements to make travel more fun.
    One sunny summer afternoon, Aunt Eileen took us on one of her famous “adventures.” We went to O’Leno State Park. It is located on the banks of the scenic and unique Santa Fe River, a tributary of the Suwannee River in central Florida. Within O’Leno State Park, the Santa Fe disappears and flows underground for more than three miles before it again becomes a surface stream at the River Rise. When we entered the park, we crossed the river. We hiked through the park and arrived at the exit. Eileen asked us if we had noticed anything unusual. Intrepid outdoorsmen that we were or were not, we couldn’t identify the mystery without her help. When she pointed out that we crossed the river going in but not going out, we were incredulous. We came up with all manner of preposterous reasons before hitting on the correct one. It was a great adventure, and I remember it forty years later. Eileen often made life more fun with her penchant for adventure.
    I tried to follow her example when I was raising my children. And I have tried to live my life with joy and creativity. I dance in the grocery store aisles because I hear really good music streaming through the store. I wear orange shoes and red hats and pink jackets because they are fun. My granddaughter, Rachel, wore her pink boa and clear plastic slippers to the Cracker Barrel restaurant for lunch because she was a princess. My son Daniel lifts me off my feet and twirls me around every time we meet because it is fun. My granddaughter, Brittany, is one of the few remainingletter writers left in America. She