After a brief and private prayer between the Bishop and the Henderson Family, and the return of the rest of the staff, it was time for Ms. McMillan to take the floor. After the now routine exchanges of gratitude.

“Thank you Bishop Martin. Excuse me while I go … where I can be seen a little better.” She got up and went to the end of the table nearest the hallway, backing off so that everyone could see most of her. Because of her small stature this was a perfectly understandable gesture, given that the table was almost neck high to her. She began her story of her own regeneration process, beginning with the news of her own terminal illness. While telling her story, she seemed to be able to reinvigorate the entire room, and it seemed to fill the room with the hope that something good could happen despite the tough circumstances.

“As someone who has lived physically as an octogenarian and a girl of eight, I could tell you from personal experience it feels very lively to be where I am. Though, I’d certainly like to sew with the skill and precision of decades worth of fine motor skill on a long, knitted summer dress for a young granddaughter. But as an eighty-year-old, I remembered my last childhood feeling so excited at the ability to run randomly in the backyard with the same soft, cool dress hand-knitted by my own grandma, from my first childhood. There are major trade-offs. I was independent until my last year of my last body. In this body I had to be totally dependent on my mommy for close to three years and still have to be quite dependent on her today. I am fully self-employed, yes, but I am also a child of Marci Valdez, my surrogate mother, daughter of Dr. Miguel Valdez. I depend on her daily for emotional strength and support that can only come from someone with the emotional age and skills of an adult. I once had that emotional stamina myself, 10 years ago in my previous body, but I won’t have again until I slowly grow up again. Chronologically, mommy is over fifty years my junior, but emotionally, I am definitely her junior. I’ll be honest, it’s a struggle to keep my emotions, and my behavior in check, almost as much as it is a struggle for any eight-year-old, even as of right now. I can manage, however, to keep myself acting professionally enough to do my consulting work, and advise you all at this meeting today. Having a mommy makes it so much easier.

“As Dr. Yuan has said, there are some risks. I did have a major downturn when I was 3 and a half years after gestation. I started out with having an uneasy feeling I couldn’t describe. Then I instantly remembered how I loved to be physically active in my previous life but I couldn’t so much as motivate myself to pick up a ball today. I was much more interested in reading or crafts. But then I went to my craft table and felt it wrong, believing I was the old child, that would want to mimic cheer leading or play basketball. Then, other differences started really being noticed and I couldn’t tell what my identity was anymore in anything I did, so I really lost my sense of being. Career choices, religion, everything started going through my head at once. Then nothing became fun and then the feeling that it was past time to live, and I was better off … originally, … letting my loved ones carry on in my absence. I had to take it upon myself to be brave enough tell my mommy that I was in trouble. I was undergoing the Personality Conflict Downspiral, or more cruelly known on the ‘net as the ‘Missed Grim Reaper Syndrome,’” she continued unable to control the tears streaking down her cheek. “It was the blessing of my mother, my consultant and friend Aimee, and the wonderful staff at the now 10-year-old Regenerated Children’s Center of Richmond that got me to where I am today. I was finally able to resolve the two personalities and accept both of them as me. I resolved that I was not going to die from suicide or retreat to catatonia as have happened to my peers so many times. I live today!” she managed, amazing herself that she was able to stifle more tears from coming out. She could see that she wasn’t the only one finding it difficult to keep her face dry.