by R. Lipscomb

Created on: November 07, 2008

At five years old, her life had became as complicated as any sixty year old. She was brought in life with many medical problems and we knew that we would not see her grow in a beautiful young woman. She however had no concept of anything except she loved to play on the beach. Life to her was normal. The hospital had become her second home. The doctors and nurses had become her best friends.

I spied her sitting and playing in the sand. Her tiny little hands were trying to find perfection in her latest creation. The walls of her new dream castle began to crumble under the weight of the water which she was pouring on the next level. Her frustration began to rise but her determination would not let her give up. Her castle may not have been perfect but her smile was when looked up at me and said "Mommy, I made you this castle!"

I turned my attention away from her and picked up my tote bag and the picnic basket I had brought along with us. I started to think about how this place has become so important to us. It was where she and I could come and get away from the hospital and the doctors and find some sort of escape from reality.

I place the blanket on the sand and she giggled as she seen the bag of candy fall from my basket. She did not get candy it was not on her special diet. So when we had our good weeks and didn't have appointments or extended hospital stays, I made it a point to sneak in a treat every now and then. The menu was simple today, she helped make our snack. She wanted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and carrots with ranch dressing. Not exactly what I would have fixed but I did not have the heart to argue with her when she smiled at me.

At five years old Becky was suppose to attend regular school, but with her medical condition I was granted permission to home school her. So while at the beach we also brought with us a book to read. Today I had brought something for fun. It was a book called "Swimming with the Dolphins". It was about a little mermaid who got lost and the dolphins brought her home.

She started to read the book to me but, my mind started drifting from the book to thoughts about the things I would never be able to teach her. Before I knew it she was finished with the book and was telling me "Someday mommy I want to swim with Dolphins". I smiled and said "We will see about that, sounds like a fun plan."

I turned to her and said "Look the sun is starting to set, look at all the pretty colors". We sat on our blanket and watched as the sun

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