Catherine looked at the little girl’s outstretched hand.
“Lily, I can’t dance. I can’t stand up.”
“You don’t have to stand up to dance,”
Lily said with a smile.
“Your arms can dance. Your head can dance. Your heart can dance. Come on, I’ll show you!”
Lily began to move her arms gracefully. She moved her head from side to side and spun around slowly.
“See? I’m dancing with my whole body, but my feet are barely moving.”
Catherine watched this child dance, and something amazing happened. She found herself moving her arms in rhythm with Lily’s movements. She moved her shoulders and tilted her head. And for the first time in three years, she felt like she was dancing again.
“You’re dancing, Judge Catherine!”
Lily said joyfully.
Catherine looked down at her arms and realized that Lily was right. Tears of joy rolled down Catherine’s face. She felt lighter than she had in years, as if something heavy had been lifted from her heart.
“How do you feel?”
Lily asked.
“I feel,”
Catherine paused.
“I feel alive.”
After their dance, Lily walked over and gently placed her small hands on Catherine’s knees.
“Judge Catherine, your legs are sleeping, but they’re not broken. They’re just waiting for your heart to wake up completely.”
“What do you mean?”
Catherine asked.
“When you got hurt in the car accident, your body got hurt, but your spirit got hurt, too,”
Lily explained.
“Your spirit got so scared and sad that it kind of went to sleep. When your spirit is asleep, sometimes your body doesn’t work right, either.”
“And you think you can wake up my spirit?”
Lily smiled.
“I think your spirit is already starting to wake up. Didn’t you feel it when we were dancing?”
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