Insignificant Events In The Life Of A Cactus

WHEN I WAS LITTLE, A KID POINTED

at me on the playground and shouted, “Her arms fell

off!” then ran away screaming in terror to his mom,

who had to cuddle him on her lap and rub his head

for like ten minutes to get him to calm down.  I think,

up until then, I hadn’t thought about the idea that my

arms must have actually fallen off at some point in

my life.  I had never really thought about not having

arms at all.

My missing arms weren’t an issue for me or my

parents.  I never once heard either of them say, “Oh,

no Aven can’t possible do that because that’s only

for armed people,” or “Poor Aven is so helpless with-

out arms,” or “Maybe Aven can do that one day, you

know, if she ever grows some arms.”  They always said

things like, “You’ll have to do this differently from

other people, but you can manage,” and “I know this

is challenging.  Keep trying,” and “You’re capable of

anything, Aven.”

I had never realized just how different I was until the day that horrible kid shouted about my arms

having fallen off.  For the first time I found myself

aware of my total armlessness, and I guess I felt like I

was sort of naked all of a sudden.  So I, too, ran to my

mom, and she scooped me up and carried me away

from the park, allowing my tears and snot to soak

her shirt.

As she drove us home that day, I sat whimpering

in my car seat and asked her what had happened to

my arms and why they’d fallen off.  She told me they

hadn’t fallen off:  I was just born like that..  I asked her

how I could get some new ones.  She said I couldn’t.

I wailed in despair, and she told me to stop crying

because having arms was totally overrated.  I didn’t

know what overrated meant at the time because, like

I said, I was really little and so was my brain.  I kind of

figured it out over the next few days, though, because

my parents were constantly saying things like, “Col-

oring this picture with my hands is okay, but if only I

could color it with my feet like Aven.  Now that would

be fantastic, ” and “Eating spaghetti with my arms is

just boring. I wish I could eat it with my feet,” and

“The only person I know who can pick their nose with

their toes is Aven.  She sure is a special little girl.”  Dad

even went so far as to ask Mom if there were any

arm-removal services in the area.

……….read more to see what else Aven can do.