A DREAM IS A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES

many of you have heard me tell of my beautiful older sister whitney- AKA the cripply! (good cripply story HERE)if you are offended by this use of verbiage please be directed to the following post HERE, so that you do not indulge in too much sympathy.

but today is my cripply's birthday and so this post is dedicated to her!!!

can i just tell you, that growing up with a wheelchair at your disposal is like way awesome? ahhh, the many ways we turned that big hunk of metal into a toy. the older model was heavier and folded up in half, lengthwise. sometimes we would lay it on its side, lock the bottom wheel and take turns sitting on the top wheel and get spun around until we got sick. this activity was often done while being locked in the back of the wood paneled station wagon while my mom frequented many a fabric store.

there were also those very long days of plugging into the TV to watch our favorite shows and yet still have a need to be entertained... yeah i don't get it either. so we would engage in hours of pop-a-wheelie contests to see who could stay up the longest. the only problem was, that by the time i was 6 i could stay in PAW mode for hours on end-- (a talent i can still do to this day) and so could all the rest of my siblings, so the game was short lived and got tedious after the first person made it through PERFECT STRANGERS and FAMILY MATTERS without even breaking a sweat!

so finding these games a bit on the boring side- whit created a game that was far superior to that of the previously mentioned mediocre sports.

EXHIBIT A: the chair

so whit's legs are pretty atrophied, obviously from not being in use all these years and thus endured the nickname BEANS (from the appearance of her string bean legs) whilst growing up in our very inappropriate family. and yet it is because of these small legs that she had the ability to fold her legs under her and fit nicely into the lower cavern of her chair (see exhibit a, and include a nylon net under it to create a "cubby" to store things in) and with arms outstretched she would use her hands to pull the chair along, much like a horse pulling a cart-- yes, i know you can picture this and some of you are probably horrified at the thought and if so- stop reading now, because it gets much better from here.

lucky us-- we would take turns sitting in the chair's seat and get pulled all over the house in such a way as to convince the passenger that they were royalty... royalty? yeahhhhhh..... royalty.

she must have been 11, which would have made me 8. the plan was hatched and BRILLIANT! halloween was just around the corner and in the deming household, costumes were just thrown together at the last minute and were pretty lame. but this year- we actually came up with something that would WOW them all!!!

i, of course, would be cinderella. after all, i was blond and already had the perfect fancy dress... duh! and whitney... oh my gosh did i mention how brilliant our plan was? yes, whitney would be-- MY PUMPKIN CARRIAGE!!! oh it was just too perfect. the plan was for me to carry both candy sacks, sit perched in my royal ride and be pulled from house to house by my paraplegic older sister dressed up like a horse! YEAH??? DID YOU CATCH THE VISION???? AMAZING RIGHT??? oh how brilliant we were.

so of course we ran straight to our mother who didn't even bother to hide the mortified expression that covered her entire face. but wait, mom-- you don't get it-- she'll wait curbside while i run up and get candy for the both of us. what? why are you looking at us like that-- it's perfect! no, but she really wants to do it... did we mention how brilliant we are for coming up with this amazing costume plan? how come? come on mooooooooom!!!! FINE- i'll just have to be a hobo for the 6th year in a row!

so whit- we never did get to do it.. however, halloween is almost upon us... how about i come out there and we can re-hatch this plan? i'll bring a princess dress and some fake buck teeth and a carrot. mom can't stop us this time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SISTER!