Heidi, Cherry, & Vaya - Wheelchair Dreams

Are you ready to meditate with Kori?

Make sure that you're all snuggly and comfortable in your bed.

Or if you're listening in the day,

Maybe you have a nice warm blanket so that your muscles and your body can relax while you listen to the story.

It was a warm Sunday afternoon.

Heidi was lazing on the couch,

Reading the final chapter of her book.

She was completely engrossed.

She had not looked up for hours.

And of course the sunshine was so nice on her fur.

Theya was in her bedroom.

She had a bunch of friends over and they were playing Princess Ball.

Which basically meant she and her friends were dressing up in all different outfits and dancing around her bedroom.

Cherry decided she was going to go out.

She was going to go over to see her friend Gina.

It had been a while and she really really loved Gina.

When she got to Gina's place she walked in.

OMG,

What are you driving?

Said Cherry.

Cherry noticed that Gina looked like she had a new wheelchair.

It looked very fancy.

Different gadgets on it and things.

Cherry said Gina,

It's been so long.

And I thought,

You know,

You know,

I'm going to go see my friend Gina.

I'm going to tell her about what happened to me because Gina will totally understand.

And then,

And then I thought we could do that thing that we do.

You know that thing that we do.

Gina said,

You mean that thing that we do?

Cherry said,

Yeah,

Yeah,

That thing that we do.

But first,

Let me talk to you.

Let's catch up Gina B.

What's going on in your world?

How have you been?

What's life treating you like?

Wait a minute,

Wait a minute.

Let me come and sit on you because you know I like to ride around on that thing.

It's so awesome.

Cherry jumped up onto Gina's lap.

Gina was in a wheelchair.

She had cerebral palsy.

Sometimes Gina got really down and depressed and sometimes she got very,

Very anxious.

And of course she had other problems and that's why she needed a wheelchair.

But it didn't mean Gina was not normal.

Cherry knew this and that's why Cherry was going to tell her a story.

They chatted for a while and caught up and then Cherry started to tell her about a story.

So Gina,

I'm in the supermarket and this woman,

I'm in line,

I'm in line and I'm just about to buy some kitty litter stuff.

And this woman told me,

Oh that's six dollars in,

Whatever it was.

And I was trying to count it and I was counting the money in my pot and for some reason I kept blanking out.

Like I was miles away Gina.

I was off on a journey in my mind and I wasn't anywhere near the supermarket.

And I was like,

What's this thing I'm trying to do?

You know when you're that spaced out.

What was it?

Can you tell me again how much it was?

Well the woman behind the counter kind of snickered at me as if to say,

Cats don't do math.

Well,

Gina,

You can imagine can't you?

I was like,

Did I just read that snicker right?

But I didn't say it out loud because you know,

You never know.

But I was thinking,

Did I just,

Did she just assume that because I'm a cat that I don't do math?

Does this woman not know that cats are absolutely excellent at math?

Absolutely,

Like Gina says when it comes to math.

Gina said,

A cat's really good at math.

Cherry said,

I don't know.

But you know,

That's not the point is it?

And you know what?

Even if they are good at math,

I'm terrible.

But that wasn't the point either,

Was it?

I mean,

I can barely add up.

Do you know why?

I can barely add up Gina.

Because it's not important to me.

You know,

I feel sorry for all these kids in school that say they're so good at English or they're so good at like history or they're so good at like whatever.

And then they,

They're terrible at math.

And I'm like,

That's me.

I'm so amazing at everything Gina.

You know me.

You know me.

I'm amazing.

I'm amazing at everything.

Look,

I mean,

I don't even try.

And I'm an absolutely amazing friend.

And one of those things,

What are they?

When like,

You know,

You get an animal and they,

Yeah,

A support animal.

I'm a support animal for you.

When I don't even try Gina.

Because just being with me makes you feel all calm,

Doesn't it?

Gina started laughing and said,

Actually,

Yes,

It does.

Cherry said,

See,

I just am blessed.

I'm blessed to be good.

And then she goes and looks at me like I can't do math.

Well,

Like I said,

I can't,

But that's not the point.

She was making an assumption.

Do you know what it's like when people make an assumption,

Gina?

That's why I'm telling you this story because that's a silly question.

Because you know what it's like when people make assumptions,

Don't you?

Gina said,

Yes,

I do,

Cherry.

Unfortunately,

Because I'm in a wheelchair,

Sometimes people think my disabilities go absolutely everywhere,

Meaning I'm like a baby or something,

Or I can't think for myself or whatever it is.

People just assume that because you have a certain disability,

That maybe everything else about you has a disability and that you're not capable of absolutely anything.

Like you're not even human anymore.

Cherry said,

Oh,

I'm jay,

Gina.

No,

That bad.

Gina said,

Well,

Some people.

I think it comes down to some people being scared of people in wheelchairs.

The scared of people that are different sometimes.

So they either try and avoid you,

They don't look at you,

Or then you get the other ones that just stare at you and stare and stare and stare and think it's okay to stare because you can't possibly be human.

You can't have feelings.

Or sometimes they just think that your disability means that you don't have a very good system in your brain and therefore you can't think straight or you don't know anything.

Or maybe you have a disability in your brain,

Which some people do and they need help.

But it doesn't mean everyone that has a disability is in the same situation.

But people just assume.

Oh,

Gina said Cherry.

That is absolutely appalling.

That's so much worse than me being accused of not being able to do math with someone's eyes at a counter that might not have been thinking that at all.

But you never know.

You know what,

Gina?

She could have actually been thinking,

Wow,

Don't that cat have lovely paws?

And I just was,

I was in that mindset where I was very defensive.

I was like,

Don't you look at that.

Don't you look at me not being able to do math.

And she might not have even been doing that,

Gina.

Do you ever feel like you do that?

You know,

You get so used to being judged that you just assume everyone's judging you.

Or sometimes like when you're having a bad day and you don't feel very good and someone stares at you.

Do you want to poke their eyes out?

Because you know,

I think I would.

I think,

You know,

To be totally honest,

Gina,

I would just poke their eyes out and say,

Hey,

You take that and poke their eyes out.

But then obviously then that would be really bad,

Wouldn't it?

Yeah.

No,

No,

Gina,

Don't do that.

Don't do that.

I wouldn't do that.

I'd probably just say,

Stop staring.

It's not very nice.

You're being really rude.

And then they might go,

Oh,

Oh,

I'm sorry.

I didn't even realize I was staring.

And then I'd say,

Well,

Now you do.

Go on.

On with your business.

I'd say something like that,

I think,

Rather than poke their eyes out.

But you know,

Gina,

This finding this out has made me admire you even more.

I'm not surprised.

You get a little bit depressed sometimes.

Gina,

Stroke me fur.

Stroke me fur and I'll support you right now.

Stroke me fur.

Does it feel nice,

Gina?

Does it feel nice?

Gina stroked on Cherry.

It was very nice.

It was soft and warm.

And in between,

Gabbling away and going on and on and on about everything,

Cherry would purr a little bit here and there.

And then finally,

Cherry said,

I think I'm ready.

Do you think you're ready,

Gina?

Said,

Hmm.

I think you might have to be quiet for a minute and just let me stroke you so I can go into like a state of a trance or something.

Well I'm already going into a state of trance.

You have the nicest stroking hands.

They're so soft and so gentle,

Especially when you tickle around me ears.

I absolutely love it.

I'm not going to take very long at all before I can use my imagination and just go blast off and go somewhere different.

Let's do it,

Gina.

Let's do it.

I'll be quiet.

I'll be quiet.

Gina and Cherry had had this thing together for the longest time where sometimes when Cherry came over,

Gina would be sad or maybe she would be a little bit stressed or nervous about something.

And Cherry just knew because they were such good friends.

And really,

She was kind of like a support animal for Gina.

She knew and just on one particular day,

It fell upon it by accident.

But Cherry got all hypnotized,

Super,

Super relaxed.

And so did Gina.

And in that moment,

They both went into a completely different world.

To the outside,

It looked like Gina had her eyes closed,

Stroking Cherry's head,

Tickling around her ears.

Cherry had her eyes closed,

Purring away.

But on the inside,

They went on a journey together.

And from that day,

They've been able to do it ever since,

Like something magical happened between them.

And they always end up going to the same place,

Being together in this other world.

They like to call it the wheelchair dreams,

Because really,

It felt like a dream.

But at the same time,

It didn't.

It felt like another world.

But they couldn't think of a really good name for it.

So they just called it wheelchair dreams.

Cherry,

In this moment,

Today,

Opened her eyes one more time to check on Gina.

Gina had her eyes closed.

Cherry was getting a little bit impatient.

She was trying to calm her heart down.

And then Gina did this thing with her fingers that tickled both sides of her ears.

And that was it.

Cherry was gone.

Super,

Super sleepy,

Comfortable.

She felt safe with Gina.

And Gina B felt safe with Cherry.

And that's all it took.

Gina flew up out of her wheelchair.

The wings on her back that she always keeps hidden had flew out of her shirt.

And when they escaped,

There was no holding them back.

They were so big.

The biggest,

Whitest,

Brightest,

Most beautiful wings you would ever see on anyone.

Bigger than angel wings,

Bigger than giant eagle wings,

Bigger than like Tyrannosaurus Rex flying dinosaur wings.

They were big.

And they were so white,

Blindingly white.

But this was perfect because Gina's white wings always shone so bright that they could see where they were going.

For some reason,

It was nighttime when they traveled.

Like they were flying over the world,

Bobbing through the stars.

Cherry was flying too.

Cherry had wings too,

But her wings weren't as big as Gina's.

It was like Gina was meant to fly.

Cherry was meant to fly,

But not in the same way.

What they discovered in wheelchair dreams was whatever they thought actually happened.

Not like when you're in the real world.

When you're in the real world,

They say that you can manifest things with your thoughts,

Which is true.

But in the real world,

We have such a thing as linear time,

Which means normally we have to wait for the things that we try and wish for or desire to come to us.

They don't come to us as fast.

But in the wheelchair dreams,

It was a whole different dimension.

Time and space was completely different.

You thought it and bam,

It happened.

You thought it and bam,

It instantly happened.

You thought something without trying to think something and bam,

It instantly happened,

Whatever it was that you were thinking.

So you had to have control over your thoughts.

Otherwise what you would think would happen.

You would be flying and then all of a sudden you would think,

I'm falling.

And if you thought I'm falling,

You would fall.

So you had to fly with the confidence that you knew you flew bigger and better than anything else in the sky.

And Gina was a natural at it.

It was like all the times that she couldn't fly in the real world because of her wheelchair.

They weren't holding her back anymore.

Nothing was holding her back.

She had Cherry by her side.

She always felt safe.

They always had the bestest time.

So much fun together.

It was like her favorite place to go.

So when she was there,

She was always on top of her thoughts.

This time she purposely started to think about taking a break from flying and riding on the back of Charlie.

Charlie was a unicorn that she thought about sometimes and he was a funny unicorn.

He always giggled a lot when she tightened her knees around his back.

Even if she tickled in his hair on his mane,

He giggled even more.

He was the happiest unicorn ever.

Just because she thought it,

That was it.

Her wings disappeared when she was flying on the back of Charlie.

Charlie was giggling as she tightened her knees and shuffled herself around to get completely comfortable.

And then Cherry decided she wanted to fly on the back of a unicorn.

Good idea,

Gina,

Said Cherry.

And then just like that,

Because Cherry thought it,

Cherry was flying on the back of a giant golden unicorn.

It was really big.

In fact,

It was too big.

But Cherry liked it.

She thought it shone as big as she did.

They were flying through the sky together.

Jumping,

Pretending to jump over stars and through and around shooting stars and flying around the moon.

They were having the bestest time.

When all of a sudden,

Charlie,

Gina's unicorn,

Sneezed three times,

Tooted very,

Very loud and blew Gina off the back of him,

Which made Charlie laugh a lot.

Gina went flying through the sky.

Cherry couldn't stop laughing.

Charlie,

Cherry said,

Stop it.

You're not supposed to do that unless Gina thinks it.

Gina was laughing,

Rolling and swirling.

She was rolling through the sky as if she was a giant snowball rolling down a hill.

And as she rolled through the sky,

She got faster and faster.

It was if the wind or something was taking her and then she was spinning up and down and around and around like the bestest,

Bestest roller coaster ride.

She was going all over the place and all Cherry could hear was laughing and laughing and laughing.

Obviously,

Gina was in control.

Cherry thought that that was okay.

She stopped panicking a little bit because at first she was panicking a little bit.

She thought somehow that maybe Charlie the unicorn had mixed in with Gina's thoughts and that Charlie's thoughts were taking over.

But no,

Not really.

Charlie was just a simple unicorn.

When Holly was thinking about was blowing his nose after sneezing three times and hopefully not tooting again.

Gina just made the most of it.

She rolled with it like she was rolling through the sky right now.

Just like she rolls with it when people make assumptions.

Gina changed her thoughts.

And all of a sudden she shot through the sky.

It was the brightest,

Most stunning shooting star Cherry had ever seen.

Wow,

Said Cherry.

OMG Gina.

You have the bestest ideas.

Cherry shot through the sky just like Gina.

For the longest time they would dissolve into nothing and then POW become another shooting star shooting across the sky.

Over and over and over.

Until eventually,

Organically,

Both Gina and Cherry opened their eyes back in the real world.

They laughed and talked and oohed and awed about all of their adventures this time.

Cherry told Gina that she would be back over in a couple of weeks.

Gave her lots of smooches and hugs.

Heard a lot and then they said goodbye.

When Cherry got home,

Heidi was already fast asleep.

She fell asleep on the couch with her book all closed as if she'd finished it.

Cherry would find out in the morning what she thought about her book.

Vea was asleep on the cat bed,

Still dressed in the prettiest,

Prettiest princess outfit.

Cherry walked over and took off her shoes.

How is she gonna sleep in high heels?

Thought Cherry.

Then she snuggled down next to Vea,

Closed her eyes and was fast asleep in no time.

The end.