What's Heaven Like?

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My Aunt Arline was born with cerebral palsy. A good Lutheran couple adopted her. Operations to straighten her arms left long scars on her. Her speech was slurred, and she walked with difficulty. Sometimes her slight body was marked with ugly bruises from falls. Nevertheless she was a delightful person, married to my father’s brother, who had polio. In the seventh grade I wrote an essay about Aunt Arline called “The Abused Handicap.” During the summer my sister and I each took a turn spending a week with Aunt Arline, working jigsaw puzzles and going shopping with her, as she held unto our arm. When my mother called one day to tell me that Aunt Arline had died, instantly I had a vision. In my mind’s eye I saw Aunt Arline in a large green field. She was doing cartwheels! Click to continue

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