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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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I've got another "amazing kid" story. These kids are some of the many reasons why I love my job.
This summer I met a beautiful young girl at a music festival in western Kansas who was tooling around the fair grounds in a wheelchair. Her name is Madison, and she has no legs below her knees. She was born that way. I found out later that she has tried prosthetic legs, but decided that she could move more freely and quickly without them.
As I started my show, I spotted her in the crowd, and she was bopping to the music as she sat in her chair. When it came time to choose kids to help me play instruments in my band, she eagerly raised her hand. I couldn't pass her up. She wheeled up and took an instrument with the rest of the kids.
I was singing a song titled "Buggy Hop," which has a part that invites the kids to "hop, hop, hop" and "jump, jump, jump." I suddenly became really self-conscious about singing those lyrics since there was a kid right in front of me who clearly couldn't jump like the rest.
Fortunately, I couldn't have been more right. Indeed, Madison couldn't jump like the rest. She jumped better than the other kids! She grabbed the cushioned arms of her wheelchair, and as she pushed down with all of her might, she launched her little body right up and out of her chair. As soon as she’d plop back down in her seat, she’d do it again. She doesn't need legs to dance!
I watched her the rest of the day at other performances, and she enthusiastically participated in all of them. Back in our "green room" tent, many of the other performers talked about how they were motivated and moved by Madison’s spirit.
A few weeks ago, I met Madison again. I was performing at an elementary school in Hays, Kansas, and I chose her to be in a band without realizing that she was the same girl from the festival, since I was in a town hours from where we first met. But she rolled up to me and smiled and asked, "Do you remember me?" Her twinkling eyes gave it away.
"How could I forget you?" I said. And, again, Madison rocked out to "Buggy Hop", and she danced better than all the rest. And I say that not just because she did it without legs, but because she had a huge grin on her face and she was unaffected by the self-consciousness that I could read on the faces of so many of the others. At age nine, she knows who she is, she’s comfortable with the way God made her, and she's proud of the beautiful child she is.
What a sweet story! I'll be forwarding this to my sister-in-law, who is a teacher at the school in Hays...thanks for sharing!There are some dance classes in town for folks in wheelchairs, and a few dancers have been choreographing pieces for wheelchair-bound dancers as well. Yes, everyone can dance! Even if you can just move your eyes, you can dance.
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