Miscallaneous

I was contemplating writing this post for over a week but I decided to do it.

Early last week was my second cousin's 40th birthday. She's more like an aunt to me because of the age difference but she is indeed a cousin. Her birthday is so special to me and my family because she has Spina Bifida. She was told that her living past the age of 16 would be a miracle and she completely exceeding the limits she was given. It has been 10 years since I last saw her because she had moved to Nevada to beat the drastic weather changes which I think has helped immensely. For those of you who don't know much about Spina Bifida here is a link to help better explain. My cousin is paralyzed from the waste down and when her nervous system shuts down it causes her to get more infections than someone without this defect. The past couple of years have been hard because more and more parts of her body want to shut down but she has fought through them and today is as healthy as she can be. Everything can change in an instant though, one moment she could be fine and the next day she could be lying in a hospital bed. It's scary and seeing and knowing what she has gone through has made me a braver person.

There was one story I was told that has always stuck with me and it made me think of it the other day when we were discussing the piece about Down syndrome. My cousin Denise ( one who has Spina Bifida) and her sister Veronica who does not were out at a store one day. When they got up to the cash register the cashier had asked Veronica if my cousin would like a lollipop with a big smile on her face. Veronica looks at her as serious as she could and goes " Why don't you ask her? She's not deaf. " The cashier had completely assumed that my cousin was mentally challenged just because she was in a wheel chair. Although I wish this was the only idiotic story that has happened this was quite the norm when they went out. It shows that a lot of people only look at her as the woman in a wheel chair but not the woman who is smart, witty, and completely capable of having a job and a life of her own.