It can connect us to memories. It can influence our mood and our responses to problems we might face.

Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes-each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands.

Do you know what courage is? I guess you don't. Do you know that the courage it took at that moment - to actually blow yourself away - was more than enough courage to keep on living?

What would you do if you could fly?" Mrs. V asks as she glances from the bird to me. "Is that on the quiz?" I ask, grinning as I type. "I think we've studied just about everything else." Mrs. V chuckles. "I'd be scared to let go," I type. "Afraid you'd fall?" she asks. "No. Afraid it would feel so good, I'd just fly away.

I believe in me. And my family does. And Mrs. V. It's the rest of the world I'm not so sure of.

Words. I'm surrounding by thousands of words. Maybe millions...Deep within me, words pile up in huge drifts. Mountains of phrases and sentences and connected ideas. Clever expressions. Jokes. Love songs...I have never spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old.

She talked to me like I was just like any other student, not a kid in a wheelchair.