I don't mean to sound like an ogre or a mean person, but I oftentimes wish that people would just stop asking ME about my brothers and sisters' disabilities; their disabilities are NOT what makes them THEM! They are KIDS FIRST, and kids with disabilities SECOND! They are kids, too, just like I am; the ONLY difference is that they happened to be born handicapped or had sicknesses or accidents that caused them to become disabled. But they are KIDS, and I wish people would learn to overlook their disabilities and treat them like the kids they ARE!!
I see many good qualities in a lot of my brothers and sisters, things that most people DON'T see unless they are around us a lot. For example, Johnny may have muscular dystrophy and is in a wheelchair, but he is a DYNAMITE player of video games, and NOBODY can beat him, he's that good! Or Ronee' and her singing. She may have arthritis and may use crutches to walk, but she is an aspiring country/Cajun music performer who has performed at many Cajun and country music festivals across the south, and she has opened shows for many big-name country stars, people like Alan Jackson, Loretta Lynn, "Alabama", and George Jones! She has a very big voice for her little size, and when she sings, people'd better LISTEN because she is GOOD!! Or take Debby, who is paralyzed and is in a wheelchair or has no arms..she, like Ronee', has a beautiful singing voice, and she has sung solos at church quite a few times. People get so blessed whenever they hear her sing! Yet these accomplishments are often overlooked because of "what's on the outside".
I tell you, life sometimes ISN'T fair!!
I don't think I really introduced myself excepting for maybe briefly. You know that I was adopted at the age of 9, and that I was born in a tiny Cajun community in southern Louisiana called Church Point; and that I was an only child. You also know that I lost my parents at the age of 6 when they died in a hurricane's storm surge. But what you DON'T know about me are my "vital stats", if you will. So I am going to describe how I look to you now.
I am short for my age; I may be 13, a teenager, but I look to be about 10 or 11. I am short for my age, but I have FINALLY started to develop SOMEWHAT of a figure, plus I DO have SOME chest on me (though NOTHING as much as I would like!). I look like a kid who just hit puberty when I hit it about 2 years ago. I have long, wavy blonde hair and big, dark-brown eyes; and my face is tanned and heart-shaped. I have a nose that is way too big for my face, and my smile isn't TOO bad; but it would be better if I DIDN'T have these godawful braces on my teeth! (I still have AT LEAST one more year to go before I can get these horrible things taken off! GROAN!!)
I don't look a thing like my parents; but that is okay..I am adopted. But if you were to look at a picture of my REAL parents, you would find that I look like my mom, but I have my dad's coloring. I have mom's skin tone and eyes; but I definitely have my dad's nose and his fair hair. I am Swedish/Norwegian on my dad's side (his name was Johannes Karl Swensen), and I am Cajun French on my mother's side. Her maiden name was Crochet.
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
