Another inspirational Kids Without Stuff story about the kids at StarShine Academy:
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number
of moments that take our breath away.” Anonymous
I first met Carl when he came to StarShine Academy as a
kindergartener in a very small wheelchair. Carl was born with brittle bone
disease. I introduced him to you in an early post titled, “Ben’s Book.”
Carl could make that chair fly. When he was in the 1st
grade, he wanted to help as a “trash picker upper” while the other children
were climbing the monkey bars, going down the slides and running about on the
playground. So…Jan fitted him with a short
stick that had a pointed end and off he went whizzing around picking up errant
pieces of paper blowing around on the campus. You would have thought he was
slaying dragons.
When Carl was in the 2nd grade, we connected. One
day, with no more papers to pick up, he sat watching the other children at
play. I saw him and invited him to come into the library with me and talk about
books. He took me up on the offer and off we went to the library. Carl’s imagination knew no bounds, and when I
suggested that we might write a book together his eyes lit up. And so the book
Rapscallion took life. Carl told me exactly
how the story should develop and I wrote it all down. I would type the story at
home and the next week bring a copy back to Carl. And so it went week after
week, until Carl had to, once again, go into the hospital for another surgery.
We never returned to our story, but he had a copy and I had a copy. I missed
our time together and I missed Carl.
Last week, after not seeing Carl for several years, I was
working in the library when Jan poked her head around the corner and said,
“Mom, there is someone here who wants to see you.” Carl walked, with the aid of two small crutches, into the
library. When I saw that dear little face, I had one of those
precious moments that took my breath away.
Carl is back at StarShine. He is now 10 years old and is in
the 4th grade. Jan has asked me if I would spend time with him once
a week. I plan to start meeting with him in a few weeks. What will we do?
Finish writing
Rapscallion, of course.
By Lois Jamieson
If you enjoyed this inspirational Kids Without Stuff story
about the kids at StarShine Academy, you will want to read:
