Sad realizations: chapters 10-12

Peg celebrates her 13th Birthday with her parents and roomates at the hospital. Her wishes are to walk and return home. She misses home, and describes home as being more than four walls and furniture. Home is being with her family and dog. Home is her Grandpa sitting next to her at dinner, her mother singing in the kitchen, and her Dad bringing her a piece of bubble gum. At home, she is safe and cherished.

Peg continues to improve as she begins to stand alone. She learns that she is getting a pair of walking sticks. In the meantime, she is gaining her mobility in a wheelchair. She enjoys her new mobility and she makes her rounds about the hosptial, meeting and greeting with the staff and patients. She becomes notorious for being a "daredevil," popping wheelies and "dancing the hula." In an attempt to show a fellow roomate what the hula dance in Hawaii looks like, Peg attempts the dance and falls. She sadly realizes that although she is making progress, she has many obstacles to overcome and that she is not completely well.

When she gains an opportunity to visit her home, for the first time since she became hospitalized, she again faces dissapointment. During her ride home in the car, she realizes that she is not physically strong enough for the outside world as she had hoped. Her body is still extremely weak, and her wheelchair does not allow her to go to her room upstairs. Her house is not equipped for wheelchair access in any way. She is not ready to return home.

How devastating, to gain a taste of returning home, and realize that you cannot. To realize that home will have to remain a hospital.