Arnold Jennifer - Life is short (no pun intended): love, laughter, and learning to enjoy every moment

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Howard Books

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Copyright 2015 by Jennifer Arnold, MD, and Bill Klein

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Howard Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Howard Books hardcover edition May 2015

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Interior design by Davina Mock-Maniscalco

Jacket Design by Thinkpen Design/Greg Jackson

Author and Family Photographs Dean Dixon Photography

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Little couple (Television program)

Life is short (no pun intended) / Jennifer Arnold, MD, and Bill Klein. First

Howard Books hardcover edition

pagescm

1.Arnold, Jennifer, 19742.Klein, Bill, 19743.DwarfsUnited StatesBiography.4.Television personalitiesUnited StatesBiography.I.Klein, Bill, 1974II.Title.

CT9992.A76A32015

791.4502'80922dc23

[B]2015007628

ISBN 978-1-4767-9470-9

ISBN 978-1-4767-9471-6 (ebook)

W HEN WE FIRST ENTERTAINED the idea of writing a book, we werent entirely convinced that our lives would be of interest to others outside the sphere of our family and friends, and perhaps some colleagues. And maybe some viewers of our television show. And, okay, a few people from the Little People community as well. And did we mention our moms?

But in fact, the process of working on this book has been a truly illuminating experience for us. It has enabled us to look back and recognize incidents, coincidences, and intersections, uncovered gems and discovered patterns, challenges faced and obstacles overcome. Weve discovered remarkable parallels in each others lives that serve to reinforce what a sacred treasure our life trajectories have been, what a blessing it is that we have found each other (especially after repeated near misses throughout our lives, as youll see).

So yes, we have learned so very much in the process of working on this book, which makes sharing our storiesand our story (since youll see we are two different people but we are also in many ways one)more rewarding than wed imagined possible. We may at first glance seem different, but maybe youll find were not as different as you might think. We realized that regardless of our stature, our journey has a lot in common with other stories of people who have overcome great obstacles or challengesas well as other great romance stories of people whose love transcended the odds of their circumstances.

As parents, it has been so moving to revisit our own childhoods and talk to loved ones about those years. Yes, ours is a tale of two people born with a physical disability that could have defined us. But instead we thrived and flourished, mostly because of the love and support of our families. They had to conquer so many fears and make so many personal sacrifices to make sure our opportunities were boundless. They were the ones who made sure we understood that our physical limitations should never compromise our dreams, that we could achieve anything we set our minds to. Because they believed in us, we believed in ourselves, too. And as a result of those beliefs, we achieved even more than we ever dreamed of. And now, with our own children, we get to put those hard-earned beliefs into practice.

One really fun aspect of our story is just how parallel our lives had been. We were both born with the same type of dwarfism and we had both received treatment at the very same hospitals and from the very same doctors, sometimes even at the very same time. In fact, as youll read later, we had even met as children.

That first encounter was followed by a string of near misses and close encounters over the ensuing years that in retrospect may seem too oddly coincidental to be true. But when we finally did meet, we recognized each other as soul mates, destined to be together. As we got to know each other, we were amazed at the parallel emotional journeys we had taken as wellas you will see in these pages.

In short (no pun intended), this book has given us the rare opportunity to step back and look at how character and events weave our lives together, and provide new insights into each other and ourselves. We may continue to juggle criseschallenges growing our family, Jens recent cancer, Bills more recent surgeriesbut having found and built a life with each other makes us feel equipped with superpowers to battle anything that comes our way.

So, we are thankfulthankful that we have each other, and thankful for our kids, our family and friends, colleagues, and what feels like a great extended family of viewers. And we are thankful for you, dear reader.

W HEN I WAS YOUNG, just beginning to be me, I had a theory about why I was smaller than everybody else. In my theory, my mother had purposely put contact lenses in my eyes so that I would see the world from a different perspective, that of a Little Person. I believed that one day, my mother would remove the lenses, and when she did, I would actually be average sized. I thought it was actually some part of a bigger plan she had for me, almost as if she was doing it to teach me a lesson. Since then, I have come to find out that many persons with significant physical and/or mental challenges often rationalize their difference as the result of a greater plan for themselves or the world.

I wasnt unhappy being a Little Person. Being a Little Person has always been and will always be normal to me. Even at a young age, I was used to the challenge of being a Little Person in an average-size world. For me, it wasnt like an accident occurred where my physical or mental capabilities changed. I was used to step stools, and always having my clothes altered, used to being observed and pointed at by strangers, and I was used to trips to the doctor in the hospital that would make other people keel over in exhaustion. But I didnt have time to feel that way. My parents always reminded me to count my blessings and be grateful for the things that were good in my life and that it could always be worse. I was raised not to focus on the negative, but be thankful for the positive. My parents embraced me to the degree that I thought other people might even be jealous of me.