The Next Twenty Years

Seven years ago on Thanksgiving they made a list in Sunday School: "Things I'm thankful for", and while they fidgeted and complained and racked their brains for new, expensive gifts, not one remembered to thank the Lord for healthy legs and bones that worked and grew year after year. She sat writing fiercely--a long epistle of gratitude. At the top of her list was "wheelchair: I'm thankful for my chair". She lived in the chair.

Yesterday, early in the morning, before anyone was up, she died quietly in her sleep. It was sudden, unexpected; yet people were thoughtfully resigned when they heard the news. Somehow they felt that she had already outlived her life expectancy.

"Out lived?" Well I should say not. "Lived out" is more like it. For although her body was stiffled and twisted with a genetic disorder that crumples the bones, her mind and spirit looked outward with life, growth, and understanding. Her entire family wrapped themselves around her and the life they saw and loved. They took her to school, to church, to games, to vacations and to academic team tournaments. Last year she graduated as valedictorian of her class, and this year she started college....still outliving and living out past the expectations of many who did not know her well.

Yesterday was her birthday. For nineteen years I saw her as a smile and a pair of sparkling eyes. She thought and talked and laughed and wrote and played monopoly.

For the next twenty years she will dance.