My name is Plum Michelle Guttenfeldt.  I am 11 years old; I live with my family in Hartford, Connecticut.  

I am in the fifth grade.  School is okay; it's the homework I don't care that much about.  I'd rather be playing outside with my friends or with my brothers and sisters.

I have two brothers and two sisters.  Their names are Percival (15), Morgana (13), Gage (9), and Carolina (5).  I get along with them most of the time, but like all brothers and sisters, we do have the occasional fight, and then Mom and Dad want to kill us (NOT really!).

I have lived here in Hartford, Connecticut, all my life.  It's a college town, so during football season, there's a lot of extra people here, and the streets get very crowded, especially on Saturdays, when the games are played here at home.  It's not a bad place to live, though; I like the seasons, and I like having lots of things to do.

I don't know what I would do if I lived in a little podunk town, where the only thing you could do was watch the paint peel off of the walls or flies mating.  LOL  That would drive me crazy!!

I don't know why my parents gave us kids such crazy names (especially my oldest brother and myself!), but they did.  I know this much: once they meet me, they never forget my name; that is a guaranteed fact of life!  Maybe I was named Plum because my eyes are purple, but it also comes to find out that as I grew up, my favorite color ended up being ... purple!  LOL  So my first name suits me perfectly!

I have lots of friends, but my best friend is Erin Conford.  She is 10, a year younger than me, and like me, she has two brothers and two sisters.  She also loves purple, and like me, she loves to play outdoors when the weather is nice (or not too cold, snowy, or rainy), but unlike me, her two brothers (who are twins) both have cerebral palsy.  One is in a wheelchair; the other uses crutches and braces on his legs in order to walk.

I guess being friends with Erin taught me how to be caring for people.  I certainly have no trouble accepting someone who happens to be disabled: just because a person is in a wheelchair, uses a cane (or a seeing eye dog) to get around, walks on crutches (or a walker or a cane), or uses sign language in order to talk doesn't make them any less of a person: it just makes them unique, and a lot of the time, disabled people are more like you or me than people think.

Some of the things I like to do include reading (I'm a voracious reader; I'm a regular bookworm!), drawing, painting (I'm very artistic), singing, dancing, playing on the computer (that is, if I am not fighting for my turn! LOL), watching television ("America's Got Talent" and "American Idol" are my favorite shows; I also like "So You Think You Can Dance!"), and going to church on Sundays (we are Pentecostal; we go to a non-denominational church).  I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior when I was seven, four years ago.  I accepted Jesus at church camp.

Well, I'm gonna go.  I have to get up in a few hours for school; don't ask me what possessed me to get up at this crazy hour, but I felt like I had to share my story with you.  Until later, this is Plum Guttenfeldt saying so long; God bless and talk to you again!

~Love, your new friend, Plum.  :)