WWASB Inspired Entry - No Limits

*This is the entry inspired by this weekends WWASB*

I met her on the playground during lunchhour.
She was all limbs , gangly and full of smiles and energy. Her blonde hair was like corn-silk and her eyes were icy yet warming .
Her voice was quiet ,but inviting . She never doubted herself for a moment, throwing her whole self, body , mind and soul into everything she did.

Every lunch hour and recess she 'd seek me out . Sometimes she would be waiting near the steps of my portable classroom . Always with a smile and something exciting to tell me .

We were the same age but she wasn't in any of my classes. She wasn't in the gym class we had every wednesday with all of the classes of our grade competing in a tournament of whack each other with soft balls, err dodgeball and she rarely was there on Elective days. The days when we picked a sport , skiing , swimming or bowling . Stuff like that and went to take part on a big yellow school bus.

We shared the same first name and a love of sour cream and bacon potato chips .We both hated the color pink and loved The Babysitters Club books . She loved to paint and draw and we 'd concoct small " novels" as we called them , with her drawing the scenary and me penning in the words.

I never really thought about why she didn't take part in all of the things the rest of my class did.I never thought of her as any different than myself or any other girl in my grade until one day in June.

My school had a talent show and me and my name twin wanted to do a dance to a popular song we had carefully choregraphed for weeks before.
We would practice on our lunch hour and after school , until the small school bus would pick up my friend to go home.

They posted the sign up sheet for the talent show on the doors to the gymnasium . My friend and I were one of the first to sign up . We wanted to be sure we had a spot to showcase our talent .

The following morning in homeroom , my teacher pulled me aside . I'll never forget the way I felt after she spoke to me . I hope I ll never feel that way again .

" Are you sure you don't want to take part in Marsha's ( another classmates ) skit in the talent show ?"

No . We're doing a dance . We've been practicing . Why ? We signed up right away . Are there not any spots? Its not that long really ...

"Well , your partner won't be able to take part in the talent show . It would just be you dancing . Are you sure that is what you want to do still ? "

No .Is she sick ? We 're doing it together . We've planned it for weeks. Shes not that shy Miss Rhore, really. She'll be ok .

"Sweetie , she is handicapped. She won't be able to particpate in the talent show. It just wouldn't be a good thing for anyone ."


Handicapped. Disabled.
The word had never even crossed my thoughts until that moment . My friend was the same as me. We did the same things. We liked the same activities, so surely , if there was nothing wrong with me , there wasn't anything wrong with her , right?

I was sad. I was angry .
Even if my friend was handicapped, so what. She was ok . She could do it . I just couldn't understand the limits when my friend obviously didn't believe in them herself.

I ran out of the classroom that morning . I ran up the hill behind the portable classroom and around the corner to my house .
My mother sat at the kitchen table having a cup of tea and filing paperwork . I was all tears and speaking a mile a minute.
I spilled my guts to my mom who was understanding yet as angry as I was. How was my friend handicapped so different than me ? I didn't understand. I didn't see it . At all.

Years later , I know my friend's handicap , but still don't understand the limitations placed on her by others.
I never saw her handicap , because it was hidden . It wasn't that big of a deal to her , so why should it be to anyone else.
If she didn't place limits on herself , who was anyone else to do it ?
She had braces on her legs, covered by her pants . I suppose looking back , maybe she walked a bit different. But dancing on the hill to the music of her pink boombox , we were the same. Two girls , having fun . No one was struggling and no one was thinking about the differences between each other. We were friends because of simalarities.

My mother was a pillar of strength and perserverance. She complained. She complained some more. She made phonecalls. She wrote letters. She met my friends mother and the two of them,together, did not give up .

On the last day of school, my friend and I sitting side by side in our portable classroom , waited nervously for our names to be called.

We rose together and walked to the gymnasium together, with our class. With all of the other students in our grade.
Without any labels.
Without any limits .
Without any exceptions.