Karina Revisited

I've talked about my sister Karina in a number of my recent blog posts - and the stories reveal a bit about what she was like at the age of 19 back in 1969. But I don't think the picture is nearly complete.

It's hard to describe just how difficult and exhausting it was to be around her. There was no "filter" whatsoever on what she said or did - she left a trail of chaos wherever she went :-)

Here's something I had forgotten about until very recently:
Mom had been commiserating about Karina with an old family friend in L.A.
Aside: The friend was a former member of the Hungarian water polo team who had flown with my dad during WWII. His flying days ended when his ME109 was shot down and the ejection mechanism malfunctioned. He ended up pinned against the fuselage of his plane engulfed in flames as it plummeted to earth. He eventually managed to work himself free and open his chute, but not before suffering 3rd degree burns over 80% of his body. If he hadn't been a world class athlete there's no way he would have survived... But that's not the point of this story...
He had a couple of kids around Karina's age and thought she might benefit from having a bit more "structure" in her life. So he offered to let Karina stay with his family for a while - hoping that might help... He had no idea what he was getting into... Within a few weeks he had kicked Karina out - basically telling mom that she was "Satan incarnate" :-) So yeah - Karina could be "difficult"...

She had a number of other boyfriends in Escondido. I'll talk about some of them in future posts but I'll go ahead and mention "Phil Boles" now:
He was a DJ for KOWN - the local top 40 AM station. It was based in the Escondido Village Mall just down the hill from our apartment complex... (Karina had a thing for DJs.)
Another aside: There was a 24 hour grocery store at one end of the mall and it seemed like every time I went there in the middle of the night there were housewives doing their grocery shopping in bikinis... And it wasn't always the same ones... It was the weirdest thing (not that I'm complaining)... Almost as if there was a secret society of bikini-wearing women who only came out after dark. (Beach bunny vampires?) But I digress :-)
KOWN's broadcast booth was right in the mall - there was a big picture window so shoppers could watch the DJs at work... And Phil hated it. He used to go on frequent rants - telling stories about the crap people did to try and distract him... He was very much a "private person" - loved being a DJ but hated being recognized... It seems like a lot of DJs are like that.
Interesting: I did a little more poking around and apparently Phil changed his on-air name to "Phil Flowers" in 1970 and went on to have a quite a successful career as a radio personality... He passed away 7 years ago of a heart attack... Amazing what you can find out online these days :-)

When it comes right down to it Karina was pretty cruel to men. I honestly don't know if it was intentional or not. I don't think she knew if it was intentional or not...
I know that she never stopped being angry at my dad for "abandoning" her when she was 14. I suspect that had something to do with it... She was kind of like an evil fisherman. She'd hook one - play with it for a while - then reel it in, whack it on the head with a club and toss it back. It was painful to watch :-)

It was way past the point where I could (in good conscience) defend her behavior. Some of her ex's would ask me what the hell happened and I'd commiserate with them. That absolutely infuriated Karina - but she had me in an awkward position ... I was torn between my loyalty to her and my desire to "clean up" the damage that had been done... It was tough...

There have been times that I wished I saw the world in black and white instead of shades of gray. Then I would always "know the answer" instead of having to weigh and balance every thought and action - and second guess every decision... But I don't think I'd be happy in "absolute world"... I think I prefer it right where I am :-)