Well, I ran into an old friend at the trail. He was finishing a mile on his new "legs". When I saw him coming down the trail, I thought I recognized him. When I got close, I asked "remember me?" He did and we talked for a few minutes. He apologized for not being able to stand still as his new blades are for walking and running not standing still! As we parted, I tried to remember his age. I guess he is 20 or maybe a few years more. He was born in Russia. His mother lived in the area of the Chernobyl disaster. That disaster was in 1986 and he was not born until later but the damage to his mother ovaries happened because she lived in the area. He was born with no legs and only one arm and was put in an orphanage in Russia. When he was about 3 or 4 a family from the US adopted him. He told me that he did not like his new home. He would hide from them. Sometimes he would crawl into a small space and hide. I remember him saying "under the house". They turned him over to a home and a couple from Russellville brought him here from the home. Nothing is wrong with his mind. He said he had been in college but dropped out. The couple in Russellville adopted him. They usually had 10 to 20 children. They were all children who were considered "unadoptable". He liked his home here and he is really a neat kid. When he was at our school, he got "legs" but they were for walking not running and they made him only a little taller. He always wanted to be as tall as the other kids, but he wanted to navigate and he could get around better on his "stubs" than in the legs he had. Well, I know he was proud to get these blades.
When I finished my two miles, I felt pretty good about having two legs and two arms even if I am pretty chubby and have bad knees. I sure can move around better than my old sweet friend. I hope the Lord blesses his life and he finds meaningful things to do.
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