Desert Ridge's 2015 Graduation was the very first graduation I had attended in my life, and it was one I will never forget. Let me just say: you know that you have touched my heart if you make me cry happy tears (those who know me well know I never cry period). A girl named Christina Chambers spoke at graduation in front of thousands of people (parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents, etc) and her entire high school class...but she wasn't the slightest bit nervous. When you first see a person, you can observe things about them superficially, which I started to do as I watched her on the jumbotron. I noticed that she had dark hair, she was wearing red lipstick, and she was in a wheelchair. What I did not see, before she started to speak, is that she is a girl who will persevere through anything, and a girl who is determined to be the best she can be because she can. She started out her speech by telling about some amazing testimonies of students that went to Desert Ridge who graduated yesterday night. Then, it came time for her to share her testimony of how she got to be sitting right there on that stage. Years ago, she was diagnosed with a VERY rare spinal cord disorder (I am so upset I don't remember the name of it). She woke up one morning and couldn't move anything below her chest. This spinal disorder is so rare, it is literally a one in a million chance that this would happen to you. The doctors told her that she would never be able to walk again, but that did not stop her from trying. After months of pain and hard work in physical therapy, Christina began to walk again. At one time, she could walk freely without assistance, but one day she began to feel a tingly sensation in the tips of her fingers. She was rushed to the emergency room to find out that she had relapsed. All of her hard work was thrown away, and she was once again back at square one. The thought of her not being able to walk at graduation did not sit well in her mind, so she decided to try again, this time harder. After weeks of more physical therapy and being poked and prodded, she could finally walk once again. The motto that Christina lives by is: "The only disability in life is a bad attitude". Sure enough, when Chrisina's name was called, she walked across the stage to get her diploma, and down the stairs back to her seat. Christina's story has inspired me and touched my heart immensely. Huge thank you to Christina for sharing her story, prayers are being sent out to her for her future endeavors.
Along with hearing that amazing speech, I got to watch Landon receive his diploma.
I can officially check one out of the three graduations I will be attending off of my to-do list. Next up: Alyssa's 8th Grade Graduation, and my graduation from Hamilton High School. *high pitched squeal* 
Sincerely,
Girl That Is Aspiring To Always Have A Good Attitude.
xx
0 comments:
Post a Comment