Story from the Past

I met the cutest kid with cerebral palsy... My heart saw so much potential sitting in her pink wheelchair.

I went with Jennifer and family to her nephew’s basketball game. Before I even sat down, I saw the cutest girl with long blonde hair and a bright smile sitting in a pink wheelchair. She must’ve been 7 or 8. I introduced myself, and told her how pretty she was. Beside her was a not-so-warm lady, who I naturally assumed was her mother. She abruptly informed me the little girl didn’t talk… and she couldn’t hear either.  I was thinking how sad – not sad about the little girl, rather sad at how pessimistic the lady was! If she thought she was going to deter me from talking to the girl, she was mistaken. I asked if she had Cerebral Palsy, and the mother simply said ‘yes’. I had the feeling I was annoying her but I didn’t care. Yes, I WAS keeping her from watching the game, but I felt the need to tell her how much potential the girl had, how the doctors had said I would be a vegetable needing institutional living my entire life, how doctors’ make mistakes… She listened to part of my spiel and interrupted with, “She has a LOT of problems!”. Okay… I asked if she was in a regular classroom and the lady appeared to become frustrated. “I don’t send her to school with her immune system… she may catch something.” I finally took her unspoken cues, said goodbye to the girl, and sat down.

I hope the girl will be given the chance to shine…given the chance to branch out and become the unique individual God created her to be.

Later, I thought, I should’ve told the lady, “Hey, I have a lot of problems too! Crohn’s, Major Clinical Depression, Asthma, Attention Deficit, Endometriosis, etc.” but it wasn’t about me, it was about that precious little girl.

Jennifer later told me the part that IS about me:

“Before I met you, I would’ve looked at that girl with pity and sadness that she had CP. Since I got to know you, I just see her as a cute girl who happens to be in a wheelchair. Other than the chair, I see her having a normal life like everyone else!”