My dear loving child,

I know the day will come when you ask me about my brother (who is severely brain damaged and physically disabled) and it’s one of those conversations I’ve been replaying in my head a thousand times without any real sense of how to break it to you. One day you’ll meet him and my hope is that his circumstances, if anything, will show you that even in the face of extreme physical and mental challenges, people can find happiness. When I was about 10 or 11 years old, my parents introduced me to a book about a quadraplegic woman named Joni Eareckson Tada and it touched me on an intimate level. She learned how to create beautiful, exquisite paintings simply by holding a paintbrush in her mouth! It was fascinating. Back when Christopher Reeves was still with us, I handwrote him a letter via snail mail and expressed my love and hope to him when he first had his accident (and I was still a kid myself). There is never a time too early to share with you all the diversities that human beings have to offer. Sometimes, I actually love people *more* when they have disabilities, simply because of your Uncle Abe.

Here is a youtube video of a man playing the guitar with his feet because his arms only exist in spirit. I hope it inspires you in a way that not only touches your heart, but catapults your passion for life.

Love
Mommy