GBE Week 26- SURPRISES

The year was 197...GAG...COUGH...memory lapse..NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS I refuse to date myself! Anyway, mid 70's...OKAY EARLY 70's are you all happy? It was Christmas time. My brother had arrived a few years earlier and he was now too big to share a room with any of us, my parents decided to turn our "play room" into a bedroom for ME! For some reason my parents thought because I was disabled, they would have a better chance giving the room to me (it had a front door to it) than to my older sister. Boy...what they still don't know about their decision to put little blue eyed, paraplegic ME in that room (evil grin).

Okay, back to my story..it was Christmas time and I was in a full swing "hippie" mode. Long hair parted down the middle, blue jeans, you know the look! I had requested to decorate my new room in purple, I'm talking carpet, walls, bedspread, curtains...that got shot down. So then I requested a grape vine be painted on my wall...well my mom thought I had lost my mind over that request (and decades later, what adorns the walls of Americans and other countries? GRAPEVINES! I should have patented that idea!). So for Christmas I put on my list I wanted electric hair curlers, jeans, tie dye shirts, and beads to hang on my door. As the holiday drew nearer, the tree went up and under the tree was a BIG square box that weighed a ton with a name tag that said Taina, MY NAME on it! I should have been excited, but I figured it was some sort of hope chest, or something boring...not at all what I had requested from good ole St. Nick.

On Christmas Eve we have a family tradition where we are allowed to choose one box to open. This Christmas however, I was given what gift I was to open! What the hay?!?! It was a cute little necklace from Avon...yay family..it was not hippie style at all, not a peace or love sign, no yin yang...just a cutsey little necklace that I'd file away in the jewelery box for later use! I was hoping this wasn't an indication of what Christmas morning was to bring. What could be in that heavy huge box? Nothing from my Christmas list I was quite sure.

Christmas morning arrived and in usual Taina fashion I was up and at em by 5am. Yes folks, I was that dreaded child that gets SO excited over gifts that I can't sleep, they drive me NUTS! I shake my gifts (and sometimes yours)  and listen, smell them, look at the box size and weight of the gift...doing calculations of what they could be...and on a FEW occasions, I may have even tried to loosen the tape to get a peek! I could barely move this big box, but when I did, it sounded as if dozens of little "somethings" were rolling around it it. Maybe the "hope chest" was filled with dishes and I had broken them all shaking the box. Crud, how was I going to explain that one? After opening many gifts, I was FINALLY allowed to tear open that big heavy box. As I gazed into the box, I saw many rectangle objects wrapped up in newspaper. As I started to undo the things...BRICKS. I had gotten a box of bricks? What? Was this the new 70's version of coal? Hold on here, I wasn't perfect, but I sure wasn't bringing up the rear of Santa's naughty list either! I got a little further and started to find MARBLES. Okay this is getting weird family, and y'all thought I was off with the purple room request?. Digging further down, I noticed that there were smaller square packages wrapped up in newspaper. As I unwrapped the first smaller object I found....BEADS!!! Tons of beads to hang up on my door! I have not a doubt the entire neighborhood heard my gleeful scream!

I'm pretty sure it was Christmas night that I started bugging my parents to help me get them up! And man oh man-when I say I was the envy of all my neighborhood friends, that's an understatement! Awesomely cool parents who although wouldn't enlist in the "purple room" theory, they still delighted their daughter by letting her embrace her "hippie" mode. Yes, God sure did bless me when He decided to pop me into my families lives. He knew EXACTLY what He was doing. But then, He always does!  Below is a poem I keep at my desk. It reminds me that I am who I am for a purpose and that Taina, is a very special person created to smile, love and live her life the best way she can.

Heaven's Very Special Child

A meeting was held quite far from earth

It's time for another birth,

Said the Angels to the Lord above.

This special child will need much love.

His progress may seem very slow,

Accomplishments he may not show,

And he'll require much extra care,

From the folks he meets way down there.

He may not run, or laugh, or play

His thoughts may seem quite far away

In many ways he won't adapt

And he'll be known as handicapped.

So let's be careful where he's sent,

We want his life to be content,

Please Lord, find the parents who

Will do a special job for you.

They will not realize right away,

The leading role they're asked to play,

But with this child sent from above,

Comes stronger faith and richer love.

And soon they'll know the privilege given,

In caring for this gift from Heaven,

Their precious charge, so meek and mild,

Is Heaven's very special child.

Life isn't always fair. There are many times we have to face difficult seasons in life. Remind me when the gray skies seem to overwhelm me that I can get through those times. That good days are around the corner and to not loose sight of what makes me special. Being me. Our packages don't matter, it's what is inside that does. Allow those in your lives to be themselves, don't try to force your hand because they don't see things your way or won't abide by what you feel is the way they should be handling things. We all handle things in our own way and that should be respected. Don't ignore people, or think by distancing yourself that a lesson will be taught. All that will do is cause hurt all the way around the room and waste the thing we should hold precous above all...our time here on earth. To forgive, to accept, to have faith and to give love freely is what we are here for. Remember always you are important and you are loved. And that YOU have a purpose here. You don't have to be the best of the best..just try being you. Thanks for stopping by...have a good week my friends.