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You are here: Home / Blog / Disabled Parenting / Hide & Seek

Hide & Seek

April 20, 2017 by Maria Palacios Leave a Comment

Photo of boy hugging woman in wheelchair. Both are smiling.I laugh quietly
as I remember the time
when I hid you
in a basket full of clean laundry
while playing hide and seek
with you and a group of other kids.
It was your turn to hide
and I always tried
to find the most ingenuous hiding spots
that kept kids searching and searching,
sometimes,
until they gave up.

All the kids knew
that I was really good
at hide and seek.
Cousins, schoolmates, neighbors,
they all wanted to play
and I helped hide each one of them
when it was their turn to hide.
I loved how some of the most simple
and obvious places were often
the best hiding places
and we always laughed
when the kids would say
“Why didn’t I think of that?”

Another time I hid you under my pillow.
Literally!
I had one of those long pillows
that stretched across the bed
and I always fixed the bedspread
in such a way that I covered that long pillow
and there was no reason to suspect
anyone could be hiding there.
The kids looked everywhere
and by everywhere, I mean
EVERYWHERE
even in the drawers because from me,
they expected anything
and felt nothing
was impossible.

Hide and seek
had that kind of magic for you kids.
-the magic of childhood
and the magic of me
getting to live those moments through you
able-bodied versions
of your disabled parents
for whom a game of hide and seek
was harder because we couldn’t hide
our wheelchairs
and most good hiding spots
were not made for kids like us.

I think that’s why
when I became a mother
I had so much fun
with the able-bodidness of you, kids
I walked through you
and ran through you
and played with you, knowing,
I could hide you in places
where my crip body could have never fit.
I become inventor and creator
and artist
just in a simple game
of hide
and seek.
I go back in time
and become a kid again.
-the able-bodied kid
I never was.

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Filed Under: Disabled Parenting Tagged With: disabled mom, play, poetry, reflections

Maria Palacios

About Maria Palacios

MARIA R. PALACIOS is a feminist writer, poet, author, spoken word performer, professional presenter, polio survivor, mother and disability activist whose message of hope and empowerment pulsates and breathes through her work. Maria's work has been featured in anthologies, articles, audio interviews and other multimedia publications. Known in the artistic world as The Goddess on Wheels, her multicultural background and passion for onstage performance have come to life through various events over the years.
Her work embraces self-acceptance, empowerment and social justice surrounding women with disabilities, gender and sexuality and a wide spectrum of issues as they relate to diversity. Maria R. Palacios is the author of several publications and the founder of the National Women With Disabilities Empowerment Forum formerly known as the Women With Disabilities Empowerment Fair which Maria has been bringing to the Houston community since 2010.

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