June 7, 2016
Writing Dreams on Clouds
By: Sheryl Wilde
Across the top of the pink, slightly crumpled piece of construction paper was written:
“I have a dream …”
Then came the dreams. There were five dreams in all, written on beautiful, puffy white clouds, surrounded by glimmering stars of gold. On the first cloud, just under “I have a dream” on the upper left side of the paper, were scrawled these simple words in black marker:
“To be able to walk.”
Josh, who lives in Mountain Shadows Pine House, uses a Tobii Dynavox, an eye-controlled, computer communication device to “talk”. As his eyes flash across the letters on his computer screen, the computer registers and then transforms his eye-movements into a computer-generated voice – Josh’s own words.
On this day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Josh’s words reflected his personal dreams, which a Mountain Shadows staff member then transcribed onto the clouds on the pink construction paper.
On the 2nd cloud, on the upper right side of the paper, was written Josh’s next dream:
“To get married.”
On the center cloud, his third dream:
“To go to a football game.”
And, on the cloud on the lower right hand side of the paper, his fourth dream:
“World peace.”
Josh recently celebrated his 30th birthday at Mountain Shadows Pine House. He was born with Cerebral Palsy and can’t move most of his body. He uses a set of three head-controlled sensors to move his wheelchair. To move the chair forward, he pushes his head back, into the middle sensor. To move right, he pushes the sensor to the right with his head. The sensor on the left moves him to the left. And he touches another sensor with his elbow to move forward.
Other than his physical challenges, Josh is pretty much like most of us – a young man who feels, who struggles, who loves, laughs, cries, works, and dreams.
One day about four years ago, Josh found himself playing baseball against our Mountain Shadows baseball team. He watched as our residents laughed together, he watched the camaraderie between the team members, he watched the respect between the team and staff, he watched as they just had FUN together like a family.
It was on that day that Josh knew he wanted to be a part of the Mountain Shadows family.
“Josh advocated for himself to move to Mountain Shadows,” says Caroline, QIDP of Pine House. “And now he absolutely loves living here!
“I’ve seen so much growth in him during these past four years. He’s grown into his own person. And Mountain Shadows Pine House has become a 2nd home for him.”
“Josh has become a very, very, very happy, outgoing young man since coming to Mountain Shadows,” adds Vickie, Mountain Shadows Activity Director.
“It wasn’t always that way,” says Caroline. “Josh was a troubled young man and faced many challenges due to his family situation. But, over the past few years, he has worked through his challenges and is now an active and happy member of our family. He has come such a long way!”
“Last year, Josh was elected President of the Aktion Club, a Kiwanis sponsored Club for adults with disabilities which promotes community service,” says Vickie. “The Club does volunteer projects for organizations like Children’s Hospital, the Humane Society, and the Ronald McDonald House. Josh takes his responsibility seriously. He makes out a speech before each Club meeting on his Dynavox. During the meetings, he says, ‘I want to reach out to the community and I want to hear your ideas about how we can help others.’ It’s very inspiring.”
“At Mountain Shadows, Josh can be more independent,” agrees Caroline. “He’s able to make his own decisions and be his own person. He has befriended the staff and other residents.
“Josh is always the first one out of the house for Mountain Shadows events. He goes to all of the community outings – from Camp Able, where he goes canoeing, to bible study, to Chargers football games. He loves being around other people and, when he’s on campus, he visits friends at other houses every day.
“He’s made lasting friendships with so many people! He has developed especially close ties with the Mountain Shadows bus drivers. Josh just loves the bus drivers – and they love him.
“Josh likes to go outside early in the morning, long before he has to leave for work at Outreach. He likes to sit and watch the buses pull in and out. He gets very excited watching the buses go up the hill every morning.
“He always yells out to get the driver’s attention. He smiles and laughs and squeals. He just loves, loves, LOVES watching all the excitement of the buses coming and going and he loves talking with the drivers – it’s very endearing.
“The drivers have taken a special liking to Josh too. Many of them come and visit Josh at Pine House and just hang-out with him. They have developed very close friendships. Josh has even helped Kelvin, one of our drivers, wash the vans!”
For those who may have cared to count such things, among Josh’s glimmering stars, there was yet one more cloud below the words of Martin Luther King Jr.:
“I have a dream …”
And written on that fifth cloud, positioned on the lower left hand side of the paper, was Josh’s final dream:
“To be a bus driver.”
“I’m a dreamer. I have to dream and reach for the stars,
and if I miss a star then I will grab a handful of clouds.”
~ unknown
We have a dream too.
And if we could write this dream on a cloud, we would find the biggest, puffiest cloud in the entire sky, and with a marker we would write:
Josh, may all your dreams come true.