A Wonderful End To 2008 Brings Hope to 2009

As I sit here in my dorm watching all the excitement in Washington, I get goose bumps. Everyone feels this INCREDIBLE wave of change coming. It is such a milestone for America. It is almost like America is graduating to a higher level of greatness. I personally respect and admire both Martin Luther King Jr. and Mr. President Elect Obama. I have a Martin Luther King Jr. poster in my room and I shiver as I look at that man today. His dream will come true tomorrow and I do not think any of us thought we would see this beautiful and monumental day. Tears have come to my eyes now as I write this. God Bless America and God Bless Mr. President Elect Barack Obama! Hallelujah!

As for me, the end of 2008 and the beautiful beginning of 2009 has been full of amazing events!

First and foremost, I want to thank my parents for a truly unforgettable Christmas gift. They flew in Katherine, my "sister" from Camp Courage. On Christmas Eve, with all of my other amazing gifts there was a big box. Really big box. I thought it was a TV which I did not really want. I like my little Toshiba, what? I saved the big box for last and David made me think it was heavy by the way he picked it up. Dad set it on my lap. I start opening it and it is a huge cardboard box. Mom opened the box for me and all it had was tissue in it and then a card from my parents that said, what would thrill Hannah this year? Low and behold...KATHERINE WAS COMING in four days. I went into the shaky, I cannot believe this happening cry! This was a dream come true. This was unbelievable. Katherine, who is practically my sister was going to be in my arms in four short days! Incredible!

And when she was in my arms, it was pure bliss! We hugged the entire car ride home! I just thought, You're here, you're here, you are here! We went to the Shedd Aquarium, saw the Brookfield lights and we TALKED! Wait, back up....I have to explain Katherine's disability first. Katherine can walk but she cannot talk-in the conventional way. BUT, she can express a whole sentence in one facial expression, she can make one noise and convey a thousand words to me. I call it Katherine lingo. She does have a device like mine to speak but it was broken. Plus, she uses mine. Katherine can use my DynaVox with such ease! Katherine is the only person on this planet that I allow to use my precious DynaVox. We had tons of private conversations in the car and on my bed when my parents made me get out of my wheelchair. I think my favorite memory was when we were home alone and she was feeding me and it just felt so right and easy. We were talking about how people don't understand how easy it is to figure us out. And, we were talking about how in our relationship she does the physical things and I, for once do the talking when we went shopping or anywhere in public. Communication can be so many things, a squeal, a scream, a look, anything! I think we often forget that communication is not necessarily e-mail, texting or talking for that matter. In the end, it is about truly connecting and understanding another human being. I am so very blessed to have Katherine in my life.

Some random short stories:

- Dad and I were getting my room settled after break. I'm telling him where everything goes and whatnot. In the middle of unpacking, I realize I forgot my clock. You see, time is everything when you're dependent on someone. I know exactly when my aide has to be there. It is security. But I didn't have that security. In fact, that security was left at home. My face goes completely pale and my dad knows as if it had happened before that were heading to Walgreens to buy an alarm clock at 10:00 at night. So, we jump into the car and half hour later I have an alarm clock. Thank the Lord!

- Oh, some of you probably want to hear about the academic stuff! In January, Elmhurst offers you the opportunity to take one class in January-like summer school but it's snowing. Spring semester starts in February. Right now, I'm taking a class called The Problem of Evil. It centers around the question, if God is all good then why is there evil? It is a pretty interesting class and I like it for the most part.

- Last but certainly not least is my visit back to Glenbrook South. It was amazing going back and seeing all the people who said, you can go to college and I got the privilege of saying, Yes I Did!

We will all wake up to a new and better America tomorrow and with that thought I say, hope for anything because it is truly a new day tomorrow.

All my Love,
Hannah!