63Thank you, and write on! ~Lady Cyann~
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Pride Before a Fall
Chapter One - Prologue
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My life had been what city-folk would call "dull". I was raised out in Kansas, born into the family of Georgina and Alexander Ginnis. I was born in the very house I grew up in, right in the kitchen. My Mami said she would always remember that day. She says it was as hot as the sun and twice as bright outside.
My full name is Susanna Sunflower Alyssa Earnhart Ginnis. It sounds weird rolling off my tongue. Everyone I knew (which is precious little, mind you) had beautiful names like Megan Allison Curtis or Elizabeth Maria McCarthy. I ended up with a name that is miles long and includes the name of a plant. Just lucky, I guess.
I have a brother, Gabriel, who is six years my senior. I remember as a child always following him around, pulling on his coattails, and wanting to do everything he did. As soon as he was old enough, Gabe enlisted in the army, which nearly broke my heart and staggered my soul.
You see, I never seemed to fit in with the other girls I knew. I didn't want to play with dolls or sing ditties or dress up. I was much more comfortable throwing mud and climbing trees with my brother and his friends, to Gabe's despair. This would all change when I met Rain, but that's another story that will have to wait until later.
My family is the religious sort. Every Sunday, wind, rain, sleet, drought, or snow, our family would pile into the wagon and drive all the way to town for church. I wore the same dress for near seven years, and the same hair ribbon, too. My parents, every time I would envision myself to be a lady of stature, or get excited about how I read a long word, would reprimand me. "Pride cometh before a fall, Susanna Sunflower," they would say, and I would have to sit in the corner or take a slap on the wrist.
My Papa is a farmer. He grows corn out on our big farm, and the golden cobs shine in the summer. I love our farm. I used to walk through the fields in my spare time, checking out the corn and watching the animals. I'd always felt most at home out in the fields. Sometimes in the summer I would drag my quilt and sheets out in between the cornstalks and sleep there under the stars. It always made me feel more at peace. Even though I was thoroughly bitten by bugs of all sorts when I slept out there, it never kept me from the fields.
My entire family worked on the farm. Excepting me, that it. They would hoe and hay and work the plows all day, especially during the harvest season. I never worked on the farm, although it was not uncommon for other girls my age to work on their family farms. You see, when I was about four years old, still nearly a baby, I caught the yellow fever. I almost died in my bed with the sickness, but my parents' prayers paid off and I made it. I don't like to talk about that much, and I hate when people call me "the miracle child". I got sick and now I'm better, what's the big deal? Anyways, I've been sort of frail ever since. The sickness ended my tree climbing and the like, so farm work for me has never even been brought up. My Mami found ways for me to help out, however. I mended and cooked, cleaned and watched my family work outside.
But my favorite chore, and the one I found solace in, was spinning. I started spinning when I could no longer climb trees. I still didn't want to play with dolls, so my Mami got all in a huff and taught me "to do something useful." But soon, spinning became something I loved. I would sit for hours in the hayloft in the attic in front of the spinning wheel. I loved the feel of the smooth wood of the wheel under my fingers, and how my fingers would glide through the steps without my even having to look. Skirt the fleece, scour the wool, wash the wool, card it, thread the spool, spin it to thread, slide it off the bobbin, roll it into balls of yarn. I loved the sound of my boot beating on the treadle.
I would then knit the yarn into clothing and blankets, but that wasn't nearly as lovely.
I didn't go to a formal school until I was a young woman. My Mami taught me to read and write and sew and read music. She taught me and my brother all this on top of cooking, cleaning, and taking care of a farm. She really was an amazing lady. When I saw her working in the kitchen, I would silently envision her with wings and a stinger, like a busy worker bee. I never told her this, for it would earn me a slap for sure.
I've always considered myself a rather plain person, nothing extraordinary about me at all. But there is one thing that sets me apart from the rest, and that's my hair color. You see, my hair, long and soft, is a color not seen by many on this earth. It's a straw-like yellow, a sunny gold, and a gorgeous blonde all at the same time. It is often the first thing people notice about me. This is why one of my surnames is "Sunflower".
In this memoir I'm going to take you down the path that is my life, and show you how you can have a normal life one moment, and how one person can turn it upside down.
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