Caterpillar Dreams

When I found out Chloe would likely be getting a wheelchair, I shared my feelings in this post. I was sad. I thought the wheelchair would be a negative thing for Chloe and for me. Rachel Coleman of Signing Times left this comment on that post. I was recently looking back at this and thought it was too good to keep to myself, so I've decided to share it with you all, along with one of the Signing Times songs, Caterpillar Dreams, that just goes too well with this subject:

"There are attitudes I have adopted and rules that I stand by as I stand FOR my daughters.

"We are raised with the idea that a wheelchair is confining. One day those words were in my head, someone had used them in regard to Lucy. "Oh, poor thing, confined to a wheelchair!" I started to giggle the more I thought about it. My response, "If a wheelchair is confinement, you should see how confined she is without it."

"Without the wheels she is a caterpillar. At 8 she can barely roll over, cannot sit up on her own and cannot crawl. The wheels are Lucy's wings. She can fly and spin and stop on a dime, she can "run" 5 miles per hour and never break a sweat. Her wheelchair is her freedom."

~Rachel Coleman of Signing Times

I’m a little caterpillar tiny and green
Crawlin’ around head full of dreams
Inch by inch takes all day
I’m dreamin’ of wings and flyin’ away
Just a little caterpillar down on the ground
I climb a tree hang upside down
I don’t know why I build a cocoon
Not sure why I do what I do
But if I were a butterfly
I could leave the ground behind
Would things look different way up high?
I wish I were a butterfly
I’m just a little caterpillar fast asleep
Eyes closed tight lost in a dream
In my dream I break free
Stretch out my legs and check out my wings
I feel just like a butterfly
Watch me leave the ground behind
Things look different way up high
I feel just like a butterfly
Look at me I’m flying!
I’m really flying!
Somebody pinch me!