A Girl Like You

I had the opportunity to finally connect with a family that lives a few hours away.  Josephine and Gabe are the parents of three lovely children; their eldest, Avery, has cerebral palsy and is a year younger than Elena.  Josephine contacted me through this blog (contact info on the side panel) and we've been emailing off and on.  She was one of the first to join the Holiday Card Exchange last year, and we have their family picture on E's buddy board in her room.  

Avery recently started seeing our Feldenkrais practitioner, Keith.  They had an appointment earlier this week and she suggested a playdate for the kids.  ABSOLUTELY!!

It was a gorgeous day, so I suggested we meet at playground close by.  This playground has a water splash park and climbing structures and swings--I've mentioned it here and here.  

Elena had met Avery before, briefly, at Keith's.  She was very excited to see her again!

E and Avery

It was everything I ever wanted.  A chance for Elena to play with a girl who understands her life.  They immediately started talking, chatting their way to the park.  They looked at each other's equipment, and talked about their walkers/crutches/wheelchairs, with no "weirdness", or judgement...I dare say they were excited to talk about those things with each other.  And other things, of course.  

Walkers in the park

Viv is cold and excited

The similarities don't end there--Avery is the eldest sibling in her family also, and her eldest brother is Vivian's age.  I felt they subconsciously also had a common bond; a sister that moves differently than they do, and all the peripherals that come with that. 

Viv and Brogan

And to top it off, E and Avery weren't the only two kids with CP at that park.  Another girl (quite young) that we had met at Kluge was also there, crawling around the sprayground enjoying herself.  It warmed my heart.

When the sprayground got chilly, the kids moved into the sunny part of the park.  

Swings

E had thrown her crutches by a bench, up the hill (even though I told her to "park" them nicely).  We were summoned by one of E's classmates, L, who recognized E's crutches and was running all over the park looking for her.  There was lots of squealing--pretty adorable, actually.  After it got too hot in the sun, time to cool off...

Beach Walker 2.0, back in action

Vivian on the water attack

E retreats as L readies her water cup

After another visit to the sprayground, the kids started getting hungry.  We all opted to go to our favorite pizza place.

Tired and hungry

Avery used her manual wheelchair, and we all sat outside.  The adults actually got to sit by ourselves for a little while (!), where we freely chatted about diagnoses, surgeries, therapy, and all sorts of other things--including Josephine's initial reluctance to Avery's chair (kind of where I am right now), which I found very helpful.  And on the subject of wheelchairs:  while we were eating, two women came to the restaurant--one in a power chair, and another in a manual one.  Avery and Elena immediately started chatting them up--it was one of those moments in time that I want to keep forever.  To me, it felt like the veil of disability vanished.  No wondering stares, no pity, no insecurities, no reservations.  Pretty amazing.