A young girl writes about how it is to have a birthday on a holiday like Christmas. (Her birthday is ON Christmas Day.) She also writes about becoming a teenager in a few years and how her body is changing, and how she feels about that.

I wouldn't mind my birthday so much if it were on a different day; but MY birthday happens to be on a major holiday. My birthday is often forgotten because of the excitement of the Christmas season. Yeah, my birthday happens to be right ON Christmas Day, December 25.

I wouldn't mind it so much if people would realize that and remember my birthday instead of forgetting about it, which is what usually happens. Or people will say that I am so lucky because my birthday is on Christmas and because of it, I get more presents; but I hate to bust your bubble: I don't get any more presents than anyone else in my family; and in order to help me feel somewhat better, they have my birthday party in June. That way, my birthday ISN'T forgotten, and I can get presents two times a year, just like any other kid whose birthday DOESN'T fall on Christmas.

This is Ronee' again. In only five days I will be 11 years old, and I am afraid that people will forget my birthday because of it being on Christmas Day. Oh, I get cards and stuff and presents, and that is all well and good, but what I get is mainly because it is CHRISTMAS. I have to have my birthday party in June because that is my "half-birthday", and that isn't the same as my actual birthday date. Only then will people remember my birthday, but it sure feels funny celebrating my birthday in JUNE when my birthday isn't until DECEMBER!

I love Christmas; that isn't the problem--it's my BIRTHDAY that is the big problem. I wish it were AFTER Christmas or BEFORE instead of being right ON Christmas Day! Maybe it wouldn't have been such a big deal had I been born when I was supposed to (my twin sister, Robyn, and I were supposed to be born in late March, but our birth mom went into premature labor on Christmas Eve, and the next day, we were born, three months too soon), but nooo..I had to be born EARLY!! CRUD!! I have always had a problem dealing with it, and then people wonder why I get so stressed out when people say "Merry Christmas!" to me and NOT wish me a "Happy Birthday"!

And I am on the threshold of becoming a teenager, and that has me stressed out as well. My body is starting to change..I am starting to get hair under my arms, and also between my legs; and it itches all the time, and I also am getting a bit sore in my chest area. Think I am going to get boobs, although I don't see anything happening yet. That has me worried too; I am afraid I will get to be big chested, and if so, I am scared that the boys in my class will start to tease me about it or pinch them. I am getting taller (a LITTLE; I am still short for my age, and I weigh less than 60 pounds; I am really skinny!), and I also have mood swings, where, one minute, my mood will be all hunky-dory and great, and the next, I am ready to bite someone's head off and spit it back out! I have become a grouchy person at times, and that is just NOT my thing, to be a grinch! I am a nice person, and in the past, nothing used to bother me; but ever since my stroke nearly three years ago, little things get to me, and now that I am becoming a teenager, it has only gotten a lot worse! I used to laugh off everything when things bothered me; now it seems that most anything can get me bawling!

I also wish that I were still little: when I was little, aside from my health problems, I hardly worried about ANYTHING! Now, at nearly 11 years of age, I am worried about so much: terrorism, wars, schoolwork (will I continue to do well at it??), my changing body, and whether I will ever get a boyfriend when I am old enough (I am scared that nobody will want to be my boyfriend because I am physically disabled). Maman, she tells me that I worry too much, and I still have time to be a kid; but I just don't see that happening, not with my body changing the way it is, and the way my moods have been behaving lately!

I wonder if I am going crazy or something, the way my moods have been...

~Love, Ronee', aged 10 1/2 (probably my last entry as a ten-year-old; next entry, I will be 11 years old!).