Miracle Girl at the Tire Store...

This afternoon I had to go to the tire repair store because I drove over a large screw yesterday in San Francisco. I was not looking forward to this errand because I would have to sit in an auto repair shop waiting room with my two BUSY children. We got in there, they said it would be about 30 minutes (thank you, car gods), I put my children in chairs and turned on my portable DVD player with a fresh movie.

That's when I noticed another family in the waiting area; father, teenage girl, girl Simon's age and another girl who looked about 10 - she was blind. Lately my son Simon has been asking lots of questions about blind people (his nighttime lullaby has always been "Amazing Grace" by his request and there is a line about being blind).

My kids lost interest in the movie as soon as they saw the family and began intereacting with the girls. The girl that was blind made her way over to me and asked my name. I told her and asked hers. "Dominque. How old is your son? And your daughter? What are their names?" I told her and we began a little conversation. I found out that she was 9. I pulled my son over to talk to her and eventually she told him that she was blind and that's why she used her stick. He was briefly interested in this but more interested in discussing roller coasters with her.

With my kids playing with the other kids, Dominque began to ask me A MILLION questions. Here's a smattering: "What does affiliated mean? When will I be a teenager? Do you think I'll be allowed to have a cell phone? Do you have a screen door at your house? Who is Jesus? What are saints? What is the difference between waffles and pancakes? Would you like to hear a math story problem? Did you know that I ran a race in the Special Olympics? What do you do in a cafeteria besides eat food?"

Now, I'm pretty good at the barrage of questions since I get them from my almost 4 year old daily, but some of these had me thrown. I forgot that she was blind and instead was bowled over by how SMART she was. I'm leaving out about 200 questions, but they were all sincere and well thought out and detailed. This 9 year old was a smart old soul.

My car was now finished and Dominques father came over to guide her away from me and back to her chair. He apologized for how talkative she had been (please, I have a Simon) but I assured him that it had been a pleasure to chat with her. Then I told him that I couldn't believe how bright she was. And this is what he told me:

"You know, when she was born my wife was only 4 months along. She was 1 pound when she was born. The doctors just waited and waited for her to die. She was life support for 17 1/2 months. In the hospital until she was 2 1/2. The doctors constantly offered to let us take her off life support but we refused. From the day she was born we read a book to her every single day. She is blind because of how long she was on life support and how premature she was. But her mind...she is so bright. She is a miracle".

I wanted to cry right there in Big O Tires. I felt like I was in the presense of an angel, a miracle child. That's what she is - an absolute miracle. I wanted to hug the father for being such a good man and reading to his tiny baby every night for 2 1/2 years when by all accounts he should have just given up. I thanked him for his story and his courage and his amazing daughter, said goodbye to Dominque, gathered up my children and left.

I can't get this little girl out of my mind. She is an inspiration to me, a reminder to be GRATEFUL for everything I have been blessed with. When we said our blessing over dinner tonight with the kids, I said that I was thankful for Dominque. After the prayer, Simon said "Mom, I liked Dominque. I liked that little girl".

Me too.