Kissimmee-Children's Health

Maddie Taylor

To start out, I would like to say that overall this spring break trip has been a great experience so far. I have been exposed to situations that I have never been a part of before that have taught me what love, patience, and respect look like. When thinking of these three characteristics, my mind returns over and over again to two families that I have had the pleasure of seeing many times at the village. The first family, who traveled from Charlotte, came to Give Kids the World with four children in tow, two of which had physical and mental disabilities. I saw pure kindness, love and unending patience through the mother of these four children. While working in the La Ti Da Spa on Tuesday and Wednesday, I saw this family a total of six times. They returned multiple times each day for Lucy, their high-energy two year old, to get her nails done, her make-up done, her face painted. While just chasing Lucy around in Disney World would be a test of anyone's patience, this mother's true capacity to interact and care for her children was shown with her two girls with disabilities. Each day when the family attended the spa, this mother would patiently hold her two daughter's hands away from their face and hold each of their heads still while one of us would do face paint on them. They would cry and wiggle the entire time, but she knew that in the end they would enjoy it. Of course, she was right, and immediately after showing her girls their faces in the mirror they were so calm and smiled the whole way out the door. Because this mother knew that her girls would like to see the Hello Kitty or flower painted on their faces, she ignored the crying and wiggling just to see their smiles. The joy that every member of that family had on their faces every day that I have seen them is contagious. As I walk through the village and see so many happy, carefree families, it reminds me that being happy and carefree is a mindset, not the product of life events. If these feelings were only due to life circumstances, none of these families would be smiling, but yet they are. Working at the La Ti Da spa has really forced me to see these sick and surviving children as just normal kids. The girls that come and go through the spa just want their nails painted bright purple and an airbrush tattoo of Cinderella. They do not want or need any sympathy from me, they just need me to get out the nail polish.

I had another experience while working in the Gingerbread House on Wednesday morning. At the end of our shift, there were a few families still sitting in the dining room eating breakfast. One family really caught my eye. A mother was holding her son and singing to him. Her son is physically unable to move much or speak much. While she was singing to him, she told him "I love you!" and this brought a huge smile to her son's face. The whole family was sitting at the table smiling at the brother and son that they loved so much. Soon his sister was holding him in her arms singing to him also, during which he did not stop smiling at her. Their mom was taking pictures and laughing. As an outsider you see them having fun and enjoying this stress-free vacation that Give Kids the World provides for them. Seeing families with so much to worry about smile, laugh, and enjoy time as a family makes all of the volunteer work we are doing worth it.