My First Post - Bring it on World!

Its funny how a day home sick with the flu can strike so much inspiration! I have so much that I want to say and know where to begin but cant seem to get started! So here it goes, I realized that I had a ton of advice bottled up in this brain of mine due to my upbringing and experiences through life, living with a disability. I never have seen myself as anything but Katie unless it is pointed out that I'm different... Then I seem to notice it for awhile, wonder what someone is thinking when they look at me, but then that fades and I realize how lucky I am and how much I have to offer this world!

I'm proud to say that at 27 years old I  know who I am. I'm confident in my beliefs, opinions and most importantly my abilities! I like to think im funny, quick witted, borderline obnoxious, incredibly sarcastic, stubborn as they come and incredibly hard headed! I love to laugh and think anyone who can make me laugh is the greatest person on earth! I consider it a blessing and sometimes a fault but I say what is on my mind and don't hold back, I'm honest to a fault I guess. At the same time I'm sensitive, constantly growing and cautious! I think about things long before I act when it comes to actions but as far as opinions go, you ask me something and i'll tell u what I think on the spot! As far as hobbies go, I love music, animals and going out, at the same time I love staying in and watching a great movie!  I could but choose not to play sports because I could care less about them anyway! So more about me, I live alone, have a job, great friends, a social life, I date, I'm not much different than any normal individual on this earth. ITS AMAZING! Actually its not, I'm completely normal, I'm simply me. I ABSOULETELY love who I am and wouldn't change for any human being on this earth!

This makes me wonder why people who are disabled are labeled as different or that their is something wrong... Their is absolutely nothing wrong with me, my legs just don't work! So what? Yeah their are a few other things that come along with it but o well, its not gonna change!  I challenge u to think about what is normal? Whose to say that I'm not normal? What makes me inferior to any able bodied individual out there? The answer is it doesn't and I'm not different! Why the label is their will never be a question anyone can answer, its just the way it is, but does that make it right?

The whole purpose of me starting this blog is to show readers that people with disabilities are just like everyone else! We may do things a little differently and yes, surprise-surprise we do have limitations but we can do whatever we put our minds too! The main purpose of this blog is that I want people out their that are disabled to know how amazing they are and that yes, U CAN DO THINGS ON YOUR OWN, U ARE PERFECTLY CAPABLE!! Don't doubt yourself for a single minute, u can do whatever u want to do! I will post random things but my focus will be on experiences that I have everyday to show people how I live the way I do and that its possible with a little creativity to do whatever u want to do! People with disabilities can use it as a guide so to speak. Whatever topic I feel passionate about I will be posting it on this blog! Serious topics, funny topics, advice, guidance, whatever it may be! The possibilities are endless! If u have a question or want advice ask me!! Please don't hold back!

Let me just say that without my friends and family I would not be who I am today... They are my life support! My friends are my family when I am away from home! They are their for me through the good and bad times! We continue to laugh and grow together and each person who has come into my life has brought more joy to my life than I can even express!  My parents and my 4 siblings have made me the strong, motivated and persistent individual I am today! They helped me grow and helped me realize never to give up on my goals and dreams! I get my strong will and fighting side from the two individuals that have brought me into this world causing trouble from the beginning, MY PARENTS! I never thought I was different because they never treated me like I was... I don't have time for pity and negativity so the people that bring it into my life ship out pretty quickly, all I have to say to that is PEACE OUT! I have jumped around quite a bit but would like to share a little bit about the way I came to be, meaning the day I was born, courtesy of my Mom's perspective! Thanks Mom, your the best!

So here it goes:

I will try and tell you everything that I remember from the day you were born.  Let me know if you need more info…..

 

Andy, Emily, and I were staying with Grandpa and Grandma in Starkville .  Dad was already working in Natchez and living at our house in Vidalia.  I even remember what I was wearing…a red shirt and khaki pants.  It was a nice day and I had been out in the backyard playing with Andy and Emily.  That evening when I got in the shower (back then I took a shower in the night as there was no time in the morning with little kids) I thought I felt labor pains, thought my water broke.  I got out and went and told Grandma who was reading in her room.  We sat for awhile timing the pains, decided I was in labor, packed a quick suitcase, called Dad, and woke up Grandpa.  The hospital in Columbus was thirty miles away.  Grandpa and I left; about half way there Grandpa remembered that he forgot my suitcase and we turned around to go get it.  By the time I finally got to the hospital you had almost arrived!

 

I had an epidural to be awake when you came.  Grandpa was too nervous and couldn’t go into the operating room with me.  I remember the doctor saying” Oh no!  Put her to sleep!”  When I woke up Grandpa was sitting by my bed.  He didn’t leave me the entire time I was there.  Thedie drove all night—even wet her pants as she didn’t want to stop anywhere—from Hattiesburg where she was visiting with Grandma Katie. I knew something was wrong but had never heard of spina bifida and didn’t really know what to expect.  Lots of tears, lots of praying! They brought you in to see me…you had lots of dark hair, laying on your tummy, and sucking on that weird pacifier they gave you at the hospital.  Dad went right to Jackson to be with you when you arrived there by helicopter.  He called me from the hospital in Jackson to let me know how well you were doing and that he wanted to change the name we had picked out for you.  Your middle name was supposed to be Rose after Dad’s grandma but he thought you looked so much like my dad that he wanted your middle name to be Francis.  The doctors had also told us that you might not survive so I had called my aunts and uncles in Louisiana so that you could be buried by my dad.

 

When I got out of the hospital Dad drove me to Jackson to see you.  I was so fat I had to borrow a dress from a friend to wear and so weak from the surgery that I had to walk very slowly down the maze of hallways and sit down when we arrived by your incubator.  We drove back and forth for two weeks.  Then the doctor called and told us that if we were brave we could bring you home with the bubble on your back open.  The longer we waited to close your back the better your chance of survival.  We dropped everything and left to go pick you up taking the basket that grandma made to bring you home in.  Andy went with us.  Emily stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.  I remember Emily standing on the driveway in purple overalls waving goodbye. 

 

When we got there to get you the doctor was there to give us care instructions.  He also was full of gloom and doom—telling us all the things that you would NEVER do. We were in the old white Oldsmobile—no seat belts required at the time.  Andy sat on the floor by my feet.  He fell asleep with his head on my lap. You were in the basket between Dad and me.  Andy fell asleep and Dad and I talked all the way home about how we would raise you---imagine two 28 year old kids deciding that you would do all of the things the doctor said you would never do and how we were going to make sure the world was open to you!  Dad has said several times that if we could remember that doctor’s name we should let him know how great your life is and how wonderful you are! During your life I often had to remind Dad of that conversation.  Sometimes he would be so worried---like when you went to Chico that first year!  I would often say “Don’t hold her back.”

 

We were so lucky to have so much family to help us.  When you were in the hospital Grandma and Grandpa would stay with Andy and Emily.  Thedie would come stay with you at the hospital to let me go home for a weekend.  We also had so many friends who sent food, let us stay with them (Beverly and David in Jackson ), and who gave moral support.  Let me know if you need more info---let others know that anything is possible!  I am tearing up as I type thinking of how a hopeless time became one of the best times of all our lives.  Love ya!

  

Let me close by saying this, Everyone comes into this world facing hardships and challenges but we all deal with it! The challenges and blessings in our lives shape who we are! I will walk u through some of my challenges on this blog! The doctor in the hospital told my parents I would be mentally disabled, live with them the rest of my life and have a ton of learning problems! Well I didn't and dont have any of these hardships and if I did thats ok too!  I have done all my life what my parents have always told me to do when I complain, "PROVE EM WRONG!" and that's exactly what I continue to do! As far as what I want to do with my life all I have to say is TRY AND STOP ME!! From day 1 I was being transformed into who I am today! As of this moment, this point in my life, my day to day life is not much different than any person who can walk, I get up, I get dressed, I go to work, I hang out with friends...Bottom line is IT'S JUST A CHAIR!