My New Friend Andrea Actimychuk

Last summer I met a new friend, Andrea Actimychuck. She is a twelve year old girl from Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Andrea has Cerbral Palsy,like me. She has a few more challenges though. That being said, she's a very sweet girl who is always smiling or giggling. It was quite amazing how we first met. My Mom, who works at the local grocery store, Sobeys, came out of work ome day and noticed a girl in a wheelchair. Seeing someone else in a wheelchair where I live is quite a surprize for us because we live in such a small town ad there arn't as many people, especially people in wheelchairs. So, my Mom just had to investigate. She met up with the Andreas family and followd them all the way out to their vehicle. When they got there, Mom realized that they had the exact same van as we did. It was the same golden van with a Sidewinder sign on it and even a toolie. Sidewinder is a company who makes vans with wheelchair conversions for people who either can't walk or have troble walking, so they can be more mobile out of town. Anyway, Mom was talking to the family thought the similarities between them and us were amazing. After work that day,she came home and told me all about her visit with them and that they were on vacation, staying at Fairmont, a llittle town close by. I was really excited to meet with them, so the next moring we met at our towns local bakary. It was friendship at first sight with Andrea and I. The two of us just liked to smile and giggle at eachother. I got to know the whole family quite well. The parents, Fay and Terry, and Andreas twin sister, Brianne. Brianne and I got to be quite good friends as well. I like to include her in the conversations were having. I like Brianne. She is another good friend to me and a good sister. So, that is kind of how our friendship started. We would meet at the bakary daily. We spent almost evey day with them when they were here last summer. This summer, they brought friends with them so it was harder to see eacother as much. However, we still got to meet up a couple of times. We met at the bakary, as tradition, the first day they were here and we walked around town together. We spent a litte time with them in Fairmont going into the stores and coffee shops there. I met them one last time to go to the bakary and to shopdowntown, as a goodbye visit. They usually come out every one or two years. Fay and Terry are going on a trip to Europe next summer though, so we won't see them for quite a long time. We chat on Facetime, whitch is a app on an Ipad where you can talk to eachother and see eachother online. If you have ever heard of Skype, it is like that but you can only get it on Ipads. So, we will do that and phone eachother and write letters. We definetly want to keep in touch and stay good friends. It was almost a perfect match, Andrea and me. She is a wonderful, happy girl, and her family is really nice too. Andrea also makes me look at my life and the stuff I can do, and makes me feel more fortunate about what I have. Maybe we can go to Saskatchewan one day to see her. It is great when I make new friends. I love hearing about people outthere who are like me. It makes me feel like I'm not the only one with a dissability, because coming from a small town, you feel like that sometimes. Hopefully we will stay friends for a long time to come. You can never have enough friends. They all help you grow as a person. Andrea and her family are just a few more people I can put on my list of great friends that I have met. I hope to see the family again and hope that Andrea and I can be friends to last a lifetime.