MacKenzie Jill

MacKenzie soon will become our family's first teenager. She turns 13 on January 2. Already she exhibits teen symptoms. She talks tough, dissolves in disinterest when family projects are proposed, aches to own electronics and clothes, giggles uncontrollably when boys are within hearing range, and is drawn like a zombie to television and the Internet. Just for fun and without provocation, she screams.


A casual observer would first notice MacKenzie's height. She added five inches in 2007 and now stands proud of 5-foot-six. Her legs account for 5-foot-two of the total.


Obsessed is a strong word, but not strong enough to explain MacKenzie's interest in Harry Potter. She reads and rereads the books, she watches and re-watches the movies. She consumes magazines and downloads photos. Her most avid interest focuses on Ron (pronounced "Rhon" by his close observers); she can tell you each time Rhon sprouts a new pimple or facial hair. (Bloody hell!) MacKenzie has gone so far as to re-write the Harry Potter saga and added herself as a character named "Bailey." To this point, the manuscript unfolds over 180 typed pages, complete with hand-drawn illustrations and back-story character sketches.


When her mind can be pried from Rhon, MacKenzie enjoys music. She shares the third flute chair in the Angola Middle School band. (For some reason, first chair has three members, second chair has six members, third chair has 12 members, and fourth chair has 178 members, or something like that.) Despite continued interest in flute, MacKenzie soon will begin playing saxophone with a borrowed instrument and individual lessons from the band director.


MacKenzie recently became the proud surrogate mother of a cow. I'm not kidding. Suzann's husband, a Michigan dairy farmer, is letting MacKenzie raise a baby bull bovine. The cow's name: Ron.


MacKenzie and her new step-sister, Heather, have grown inseparable. They enjoy overnight stays at each other's houses.


Our Angola neighbors are thrilled to have MacKenzie nearby. She is a willing, even eager, babysitter. She loves kids and treats them tenderly. She'd take care of the little nippers---as Rhon would say----just for fun. But she also likes the money.



MacKenzie wants me to add that she got a DIGITAL CAMERA and, omigod, an iPOD FOR CHRISTMAS!$%!!! AIIGTHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!