Page 100 - Reason To Sing by Kelita Haverland

Reason To Sing

about it and telling the obvious truth. How crazy is that? How
can we all keep pretending? But still, we do.
My mother is Vilda Pearl Whitney. And now, Haverland.
Even her name is extraordinary. Not one you hear every day,
that’s for sure. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met or even
heard of another Vilda. Hilda and Matilda yes, but no Vilda.
And Pearl? That’s after my great aunt on my grannie’s side.
She was the prettiest of all my grannie’s sisters, but that’s not
saying much. From the photos I’ve seen most of them were
darned ugly. Mom must have instinctively known from her
own experience growing up with a unique name, that choosing
Kelita for me would bring with it a sense of individuality. That
certainly has been true. I’ve been told my name comes from the
bible and can be found in the Old Testament. It means ‘little
one’ or dwarf-like. I think I prefer little one.
When I face the cold, hard truth, I realize how much deep
love and gratitude I feel for my mother. She’s always had the
ability to pull the actress and performer out of me. From the
time I could sit up and talk, we were a team. She was so proud
when people would ask me how old I was and I’d profess loudly,
“I’m soon 2!”
My mother was the one who dressed me up like an old
woman and helped me memorize that poem for my first
live performance. She’s the one who made sure I was given
piano and singing lessons. The one who signed me up for the
United Church children’s choir and all the Kiwanis speaking
competitions. She’s the one who helped me memorize my lines
for my school plays and musicals. And when Vian and I were
much younger, she was never upset when we helped ourselves
to her fancy clothes, shoes, wigs and make-up, while playing
movie star. When I started being her hairdresser at only 12, she
applauded me.

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