ELYSIAN Fall 2017

FALL 2017 $6.95 READELYSIAN.COM

ELYSIAN

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successful. Emily just graduated cum laude from Lawrence University, and she’s now on a fully paid scholarship in piano performance at University of South Florida for her master’s degree. I never told her she could not do it, and no one around her told her she could not do it. So, I think you have to be that parent that just loves your child, and the sky is the limit.

Q: Physiologically, are there distinguishing characteristics with people that have Turner Syndrome?

A: Yes, I can pick out individuals with Turner Syndrome, but most people cannot. They tend to be short. Women our age that have Turner Syndrome are probably 4-feet-6-inches tall. They didn’t have the science of human growth hormone back in the day, so today they can achieve the extra six inches. Emily made it to 4-feet-11-and three-quarters.

On her driver’s license, they gave her 5-feet. Their necks tend to be short on their body. They are wider. Their arms HYL OLSK H SP[[SL KPɈLYLU[S` ;OLPY LHYZ HYL rotated back. Emily has a 30 percent hearing loss. The fact that she plays piano blows my mind. She can play 9HJOTHUPUVɈ HUK `V\ ^V\SK UV[ RUV^ that she couldn’t hear some of it. Their breasts tend to be further wide-set. With her scoliosis, Emily is slightly bent over with a pretty severe S-curve. Their hands HUK MLL[ JHU IL W\Ɉ` ^P[O LKLTH ;OL` can have a boxy build, almost androgynous. Because their sense of space is VɈ `V\ KVU»[ ^HU[ [V W\[ H NSV]L VU [OLPY hand and throw a football or softball because it potentially will hit them in the face.

Q: You taught your girls as a single mother that they could do anything.

Where does that come from?

A: I just believe in myself. I never had a barrier that I didn’t try to surpass. Being girls, when we were girls, they said you cannot do this or could not do that. I played football, and I was a cheerleader at the same time I played football. It was not because somebody dared me to do it. It was because I had curiosity.

Why can’t I do that? Why is it only that the boys in the neighborhood get to be padded up and play football? That didn’t seem right. I have always had a sense of fairness and justice. I didn’t want to have

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any limitations. No limitations, not for me or my daughters.

Q: Do you treat plants the way you [YLH[ WLVWSL& @V\ ÄUK [OL L_JLW[PVUZ ^OH[ ZVTL TPNO[ JHSS ¸[OL TPZÄ[Z ¹ and you love them until they are strong. (! 0»T H TPZÄ[ 0 YLHSS` YLSH[L HUK P[»Z ZV funny because my sister’s the same. >L»YL MYVT [OL PZSHUK VM TPZÄ[ [V`Z 0 YLSH[L [V [OVZL TPZÄ[ [V`Z Q: Why? A: Because no one loves them. It’s true.

0 KVU»[ ^HU[ [V IL H TPZÄ[ [V` 5VIVK` ^HU[Z [V IL H TPZÄ[ [V` ;OLYL PZ UV VUL else that would care to even ask that question. That’s the sad part. No one

asks us those questions. Who really cares, you know? You do. I do. So, I [HRL HSS [OL TPZÄ[ WSHU[Z ;OL`»YL IYVRLU they’re tattered, and if I can save them and make them whole again, then they will live in my yard until they die. And if they rebound and do super well, then these beautiful plants become a gift to my favorite clients. I will give them my favorite one of these or my favorite one of those. But no matter what, the plant will be a gift because I am just renting this place on earth.

Q: So, why did you care for plants and not people?

A: That’s a good, good question because there is an answer. If they die, it would not be as tragic. If the tree dies, HUK 0 Q\Z[ OHK VUL KPL P[ PZ H KPɈLYLU[ kind of sad. Just this week, there was a tree I wanted to live more than any-

thing, but it was too far gone when I was brought in. It feels really bad, but you learn something from it. I cannot make everything live. I cannot take a [YLL [OH[ OHZ Ä]L WLYJLU[ VM SPML SLM[ HUK save it. The cancer already took it, but I didn’t give up trying. And for those that hired me, that’s what they wanted. The psychology for them was that they loved that tree, too. They let me do the other two trees, and thankfully, they are doing ÄUL >L PU[LY]LULK PU [PTL Q: Do you attach to trees?

A: There was a forester from Maine who told me once that he could see an aura around me when I was out near the trees. I thought he was making it up or being goofy or something. Every day he would come up to me and say, “There’s really this sense that I feel that the trees are safe with you.” I think it’s their own thinking, imposing it on me and the plants. But the truth is, I am doing everything that I know to do, at that moment in my life, for the plants’ well-being; for their plants. I’m not attached to people’s trees so much as I’m attached to them being attached to their tree. That is what matters to them and therefore is important.

Q: If you could have one conversation with a person that is either living or dead, who would that person be and why?

A: Bill Gates. I want to be on his African team of saving hungry children. I don’t know him, but I found out that he already has an established means of getting things done in poverty-stricken areas of the world. I haven’t seen anything yet about mycorrhizal fungi or some of the technology that I do. They cut down [YLLZ [V I\PSK ÄYLZ [V RLLW RPKZ ^HYT and boil food. I think that I have a place in that. I have always wanted to go to Tanzania and to untamed Africa. Someday, I’m hoping that my serendipity will introduce me to the Gates. They would know that I am a good bet, and I would be a good patron to help them with the goodness that they can do.

Q: What do you want to be remembered for? (! ;OH[ 0 THKL H KPɈLYLUJL ;OH[ VUL WLYZVU JHU THRL H KPɈLYLUJL 0 JOHUNLK the world in my own small way. E

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