"That thing is a wheelchair."

Have you ever been referred to as "that" or as a "thing"? I bet you haven't. It really shouldn't be a common occurrence for anyone, but unfortunately it's something I am very familiar with.
I was in a store just the other day, when a child walked past me and said, "What's that thing?" Now, I don't mind when children ask me questions because I would rather have them know than not. What really bothers me is the way the parents respond. On this particular instance, the mother said, "That thing is a wheelchair." I am quite accustomed to this sort of response, but for some reason this time it bothered me. Why should I be accustomed to being referred to as a "thing"? What does that teach the child? It teaches them to see the wheelchair first, then the body, if they can even get past the wheelchair.
This is the way I'm treated constantly by people, in fact, it has been happening my whole life. I constantly feel like no one is seeing the real me, because the chair speaks louder than words. I suppose I notice it more now because I'm an adult and I desire to be treated as one. Instead, I get people treating me like I don't have a mind of my own. To be honest, whenever I meet someone for the first time, I always think, "Is this person going to act normally around me, or are they going to treat me like I'm mentally handicapped." It's like I can feel when someone thinks I'm mentally handicapped, and then unfortunately, I feel embarrassed and I start to act differently. I'm being very frank because I think it's sad. It's sad to be treated differently because you look different. In my opinion, beauty is from the inside out. But that's not the way the world thinks. Simply put, if you have normal conversations with other people, then why can't you have one with me? You wouldn't walk up to a friend, get right in their personal space, and start talking to them like they're deaf. So why do it to me. You wouldn't choose to ask questions about you friend, to your friend's mother, if your friend was standing right in front of you. So why do it to me? You wouldn't refer to your friend as a "thing". Why do that to me? I wish more people would think about this. Why am I any different than you because I'm in a wheelchair?
So parents, I just want to give a quick suggestion. You just have to change your response slightly. Say, "There's a woman in a wheelchair." Acknowledge the human being first. See, not that hard! I can't change the way the world sees me, but you can, and it starts with you! As Willy Wonka says, "Anything you want to, do it. Want to change the world, there's nothing to it."

Opening a New Chapter...

Good hello internet world!

Wow! I can't believe that the last time I wrote in here was when I was finished Grade 11! That's really not good on my part though... So since it's been basically a year I'll have a lot to talk about!

My school year, Grade 12, was VERY busy with a huge amount of courses, 11 to be exact. Of those 11, it included two Pre Calculus courses! That's right, I said two. I had to do Pre Calculus 11 in the first semester and Pre Calculus 12 in the second semester. If that wasn't enough to try my nerves, I also had stressful courses such as French and Biology. You know my track record with French; we don't get along... At all... I was able to do some really neat courses though, such as Law, Family Studies, and Christian Studies. In Christian Studies I learned about different worldviews, such as Marxism, and what each of them believes. I also had to write what I like to call "the Monster final paper" for Christian Studies, which was a summary of everything I learned. "The Monster" ended up being 21 pages in length and during this period I got a glimpse of how University students feel. I have never chugged so much coffee in my life... Other than that I learned a lot of useful information and I generally enjoyed the course! All of my courses definitely tested me on many different levels, both physically and emotionally. I won't talk much about that though because the main thing is that I'm done!!!

My fabulous Graduation was in a city 12 hours away from my home town, and since my family LOVES me SO much, we made this adventurous journey all together! I say adventurous because it was full of them literally at every turn; I'm not kidding. For example, on our way to dress rehearsals we got lost, ended up on the freeway going out of town, which took us fifteen minutes to find a turn off and then fifteen minutes to get back... I went breathlessly into rehearsals, not really sure what was happening and was more than a little "frazzled". I was told that I would be leading the graduates into the ceremony but not actually where to go... So when it came time, I proudly led the graduates down the wrong aisle... Eh hem... Well, almost. One of the teachers grabbed me before I completely turned off and directed me to the right aisle. Besides that I ended up being on drugs because of a back spasm, and was zoned out basically throughout the entire ceremony... Being "pain killer high" at Grad was not exactly what I had imagined, to say the very least. Besides that, I had a lot of fun, especially being able to meet my fellow graduates and teachers for the first time! I must be honest and say that usually when I meet new people, I can be very shy, nervous, and sometimes awkward. I'm only like that when I first meet people though, because after that I go back to being my enthusiastic, crazy self! So throughout meeting my fellow graduates, as I knew that it would probably be the only time I'd ever see them, I tried to act as effortless as possible and hide the fact that I was nervous. Whether or not I did a good job I will never know! Anyways, the only thing I didn't like about the ceremony was the fact that the grad gowns, which I had to be pinned into by the way, were extremely hot! I literally felt like all of the makeup my sister spent painstakingly putting on for half an hour was going to melt right off my face. Towards the end of it, all I wanted to do was rip the gown off and go running around outside to cool off. In the five minutes it took me to go up and get my diploma, (well actually it was fake... I don't get the real one until August) I expected to either, have a flashback of my life up until that moment, or have this tremendous revelation that I was an adult after that point... Neither of those things actually happened though as my mind was fixed on two things; the smiling faces around me, and the fact that I was really trying not to drop my certificate on the way back down. The flashback and adult revelation didn't happen until the Monday after when I realized there was no school that day... The next few minutes were a complete blur, as I was dragged off to a group photo, then family photos, then taking off the grad gown (to my relief), then fixing my flattened grad cap hair (my mother being a hairdresser was armed with a curling iron and hair spray), then more family pictures with me in my prom dress, all in that order! My prom dress was $50 from Amazon, which I literally found a week before grad, ordered, and had altered three days before we left. Up until that point I had multiple "heart attacks" so my relief was indescribable. I had prayed and asked God to bring me a dress that would match my personality, which I deem to be sunny, and I got just that! I love my dress and the fact that I can wear it again instead of having it sit in my closet... The banquet dinner was amazing with lots of laughter. It featured student talent, singing, etc, and an improv group called the Panic Squad. By that time my back was feeling better so I was actually able to enjoy the evening pain free! And to top it all off... We got into the van, turned it on, and then realized that the headlights were broken... After trying to drive a block in the dark on a busy street, we pulled over to try and fix the problem. We weren't getting anywhere, so like always, we said a quick prayer. After about five minutes, a young man pulled up in front of us, and like a knight in shining armour, led us back to our hotel in safety, saving us from having to sleep in the van... And so ends the graduation adventure!

What's next for me, you say? That is to be decided. I definitely need to rest my body, as it has been giving me some grief, and take some time to recuperate. I choose to leave my life in God's hand and see what other adventures He leads me to. So stay tuned!