Christina, Handicapped No More

Nannci’s Note:

The chapter by Christina and her parent figures in the spirit world was not given in one sitting. She often peeked in on my life and told me she was ready for more conversation. Seeing her impish and sometimes Cheshire-cat-grin, I asked myself:  was I?   I felt that this young girl joined The StoryTellers for healing, as much for her parents and family members as herself. I thought she also reached back to life on earth as she recognized how much she had grown and her desire to let them know how life continued for her.

I met Christina once when she was much younger. When her parents read an early draft of this chapter, they did not accept that this portrait was their daughter. I was troubled by their request not to use this story, as it is one that deeply touched my heart and garnered an understanding that children who died young and “grew up” in the spirit world did not have such a painful ordeal, notwithstanding the immense loss—of their child to a parent, and their parent to a child. I thought of people like Polly Klaus, the girl who America will remember was robbed of life by a household intruder while attending a slumber party at her friend’s house. I thought of the parents of Adam Walsh, who started the Missing Children Foundation, an organization that has become an all-important part of safeguarding America’s children. I envisioned parents of kids who died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) or of babies who never knew life outside of an ICU incubator.

What could help those who had immeasurable grief? I thought of many people who have "lost" their children in countless ways and what a comfort this story might be to them.   And I also thought of those children now in the spirit world—however "grown-up" they might be, and however much they must (still!) want to convey to their parents and friends how they are now and wanted to explain some things about what it’s like to live in the spirit world. Christina used her voice and took the chance to come through. I heard it, and I responded. Through prayer and encouragement from her, I decided to include her story. Respecting her parents' wishes not to use her name, references to her identity have been omitted, as have any but the most general details of her life on earth.

May I tell you that I was overwhelmed by her sweetness, her light. She, a gentle soul, was filled with laughter and such goodness. It is this to which I can testify. It is this that I wish you could perceive in her demeanor. The parent figures (in spirit) who imparted specific knowledge were very genuine people in their love for her as caretakers and storytellers. To me, they came alive in their expressions of how “parenting”—mentoring, teaching, loving!—is done for children who go to the spirit world and give other glimpses of what life, in that role as well as others, is like. 

If she is not who I initially thought her to be, I humbly apologize for my decision. Whoever this young woman is, she is strong in her desire to speak to the world. I could not put this story—her story—on the shelf. So, I approached her, asking whether she minded being referred to by another name. She assured me that she didn't mind, and in fact, she chose the name Christina. I feel her story captures details about the spirit world that simply should or could not be omitted from this series of stories—not only for all the physically challenged “handicapped,” but for all of us challenged in our emotions, spirit, and faith to see our child or ourselves as we truly are, even though it might be different from who they are through spiritual growth.

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