She was born during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Russian rockets were poised in Cuba facing the U.S.. In turn, Kennedy warned the Russians to step down or they would fire. The Russians backed down at the 11th hour. This is the closest the world has ever been to a nuclear war.

It was a close call.

Her mother stood in the hallway clutching her belly. “The baby is coming”, she told the nurses. They told her to lay down and wait for the doctor who was arriving in the morning to perform C section. Her doctor told her she shouldn’t have any more babies but she decided to try again anyways. She knew she couldn’t give birth naturally, hence the C section, but she was willing to take the risk. She could feel her baby pressing down on her and knew she was in active labour. This baby wasn’t going to wait for the allotted appointment and her mother knew she had to convince the nurses. Eventually one of them examined her and immediately called the doctor, waking him from a deep sleep. She was born in the early morning.

From that day forth her mother called her “miracle child”

She was an odd child who lived between worlds. She could see spirits as clearly as fully formed people. In her innocence, she didn’t know the difference. The spirits were her companions and she saw them as family that watched over her. Because of them, she never felt alone. Sometimes she would fly at night through the parks, over buildings as her spirit left her body. She had always known how to fly. To her the material world was fluid. She enjoyed holding her hand out in front of her and seeing it turn into a beautiful kaleidoscope of colours that merged with her surroundings.

When she was three she got very sick and went to the hospital for a long time. She couldn’t move. Her body felt very heavy and she was beginning to feel the confines of its form. Regardless, she would lay in bed and sing as loud as she could and the other young patients would sing  along with her until the nurse came in and reminded them that others we’re trying to sleep. Her mother bought her a pop up book about a princess and she would read it everyday. She believed that she was a princess and would one day be a queen. She was very sick and almost died but the doctors were able to save her kidney, the smallest one they ever kept in, and she went home.

Her mother again reminded her that she was a miracle child and told her she was watched over by angels.

Her parents almost lost her so they worried about her and treated her like she was a fragile doll. When she started school they thought that normal childhood activities may put her in danger of getting ill so they took precautions to limit her activity. She often couldn’t go on school trips and  was left behind. It made her sad because she loved to explore and she hated being left out. So she would write stories and make paintings and drawings. Often they were about kings and queens, like the book from the hospital. Making art allowed her to return to  the in between world.