My bro

My brother spends lots of his time in a wheelchair.

He was born with a very rare neurological defect that affects the myelin lining on his nerves. His fingers struggle to grasp and hold; his eyes sometimes won't sit still, making it dfficult to read; his balance is terrible. Long story short, his body just doesn't work as well as yours or mine.

But he has always found a way to do what he wants. When he was in elementary school and all his buddies were playing football, he was always the ball holder for kick-offs and punts. In high school when he wanted to ride bikes with Tim and me, he saved his money and bought a 3-wheeled recumbent bicycle. His junior year of high school, he won an award in a drafting class and discovered a love for design and architecture. He's making that work at college.

But let's face reality. There's lots Matt can't do. We can't hike together. It's harder to do a family picnic. When we go to a baseball game, although it isn't necessary for us to sit in the "handicapped" seating, we at least take into consideration where our seats are - not too many steps, close to the aisle. He can't run, walk across a room without crutches, jump in and out of the car to run errands. His life is very different, and filled with unique and frustrating challenges.

I adore Matt. We have tons of fun together, although I don't get to see him all that much - he's in his junior year of university. He was home for the Christmas holidays this past week and we went to see Avatar. Have you seen this movie? I thought it was great! I didn't know much about it, but I knew I wanted to see it. I do love James Cameron's movies, with the exception of Titanic - ironically, his greatest hit. (I admit Titanic had great effects, beautiful music, and wonderful acting. Just hated the love story. First of all, was there truly only room on that door for one person? And really - you live your whole life, have a family, children, grandchildren, but at the end of your life the man you meet in eternity is the fellow you had a 3 day affair with on a ship? Wait, I'll stop myself there. Whew! That was a close one!) Back to today's plot... Aliens, Terminator II, The Abyss - I loved all of those! Own all of those, actually. So we chose this movie, expecting it to be good, and both Matt and I wanted to see it.

Lights go down. We watch the previews (love previews - don't you? I think every movie looks amazing in the previews!) Movie starts.

The hero is in a wheelchair.

Wait. Did you know this? Did I miss something in the previews? (Warning: spoiler alert) So the hero is paralyzed from the waist down. He goes to this alien planet and participates in a science project in which a hybrid human/alien body is grown. While lying in an MRI-like machine, the human is able to "occupy" the hybrid body, and most of the movie takes place in the alien world, with this hybrid body occupied by our hero. Of course, his hybrid body is not only fully functional, but amazing - strong, lithe, athletic.

And at the end of the movie, his old, broken body is left behind and his occupation of the hybrid body becomes reality. He stays in that perfect body.

So I'm sitting there with Matt, who is actually sitting in his wheelchair because the theatre is sold out, watching this movie.

This movie about a guy in a wheelchair who gets a new body.

Cried all the way home.