My Special Needs Sister, A Typical Female

Just because my sister, Abbie, has special needs does not mean that she is not all female. This became clear to me when she was a little girl and she cornered a little boy she thought was cute as he walked out the door of the Assembly of God Church in Monticello.

I remember Abbie smiling down at the boy, who was shorter than she and backing him in the corner. He was dressed like a gentleman, in a coat, a bowtie, and a pair of short pants. I was watching, fearing for the little boy, sort of embarrassed because my baby sister was stalking the little boy like a cougar stalks its prey (yes, she was older, so she was a cougar in this situation). As she backed him toward the wall, my mother swooped in and rescued him by grabbing Abbie by the hand. Abbie smiled at the boy and then laughed.

I have further proof that Abbie is a typical female:

Years later, when I was a student at Florida State University, my parents and Abbie and my brother, Danny, went and picked me up to take me home for the weekend. Driving through Tallahassee on Tennessee Street, Abbie was looking out the window, on her side of the car, when a Jeep with four male college students rode up beside us. Abbie started smiling at them flirtatiously and batting her eyes at them. I was in shock! The boys started smiling back and the driver started honking the horn at her.

Further proof:

Years after the Tennessee Street incident, Abbie developed a crush on John Cena, so I took her to Tallahassee to watch John Cena wrestle. She wouldn’t even look at him, but Randy Orton was a different story. I guess Abbie has a fickle side too. She dropped John Cena like a hot potato that night and developed a crush on Randy Orton.

While the stories above are told tongue-in-cheek, they are true. I sometimes wonder what it could have been like if Abbie had been able to live a life like others do; if she had been able to experience the joys and pains of being a child who had been able to go to a mainstream school; if she had the chance to be a typical teenager, with all its joys and pains, going on dates, hanging out with friends, and having sleepovers with the girls; and what Abbie would be like as a wife to the husband she found, and a mother, and if her children would be as beautiful and kind as she is.

I know that Abbie will never enjoy what the world calls a “normal” life, but she does enjoy her life. She is a gift from God to my family, and we love her very much. We need her, as much, or maybe more, than she needs us.

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The Beautiful Princess

Once upon a time, in a fairytale land and in a fairytale castle lived the most beautiful princess ever written about. Like Helen of Troy in mythology, her face launched a thousand ships. Poets wrote poems about her but they could not capture her essence. The world’s master artists attempted to paint her but they could not capture her beauty.

She not only had beauty. She also had a great voice and a talent for music. People loved to hear her sing, for, in the sound of her song, one could hear the beat of her heart. In that beat, though, there was a longing – the longing was for her one true love and for things not of this world.

Each evening, she would gaze out her window at the heavens and wish upon a star. Somewhere, far away, there had to be a kingdom other than the realm she reigned over.

Far, far away, there lived a pauper who had only seen one of the paintings of the princess hanging in a museum. The beauty that the master had captured with oils on the canvas had failed miserably at capturing her true beauty but it was enough to stir a passion in the pauper. He yearned to meet her but how could he do it? He was but a poor, hardworking soul that knew his station in life. She was a princess.

The pauper looked at the book that he had owned for years. He felt its leather binding. It had been given to him as a child by his grandmother. It was the only book that he had ever owned but how he loved to read it. The book was filled with stories about history and mystery. There were tales of intrigue in it. It was filled with poetry and there were even stories of romance in it.

Towards the end of the book, there seemed to be a theme that brought the first part of the book together. In that part, there were stories about one Man. The pauper thought of how the princess would love to read about the Man.

He lovingly wrote a letter to the princess and found a box to put the treasured book in. He scraped up enough pennies for postage and mailed the letter and the book to the princess.

When the princess got the book, she began to read it. She devoured every word in it. As she got near the end, she learned about the Man. The Man’s name was Jesus.

As she sat in the bedroom of her castle, everything that had once before appeared beautiful to her now seemed drab and ugly. Even her reflection in the mirror had changed.

She fell to her knees beside her bed and asked Jesus to come into her heart and feel that longing and made everything beautiful again. He heard that prayer and faithfully answered it.

The longing for her one true love remained but she knew where to find him. She looked at the return address on the box containing the book.

She ordered a team of horses drawn up and she had her driver take her to the pauper.

When she arrived, their eyes locked. She was beautiful but she saw in him a beauty she knew that was created by his warm, caring heart.

They embraced. She whispered in his ear that he was to come and marry her and be her prince.

The two of them lived in the kingdom on Earth but knew that they had been promised a kingdom not made with man’s hands because in accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior, they were both children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And they lived happily ever after on Earth and then in Heaven.

By Jacob Bembry

Available in my book, HIGHER CALL, in paperback for $10 or $2.99 or FREE on Kindle Unlimited on Amazon. Signed copies of the paperback are available by sending $10 plus $3 shipping and handling to Jacob Bembry, PO Box 9334, Lee, FL 32059.