Avatar is one of the best movies I have ever seen and I am thoroughly obsessed with it now. One of my favorite scenes is where Jake wakes up in his avatar body for the first time. What a great simple scene of a person who has lost something most of us take for granted every day, finally getting the use of his legs back after years of nothing.

I don't own Avatar or the characters.

I am not a doctor so I do not know what being paralyzed is like, please forgive any inaccuracies.

Loosing your legs to paralysis isn't like loosing them to amputation. The guys that lost limbs in the hospital with me after I was wounded sometimes mentioned what the docs called "phantom limb" syndrome. They could still "feel" their leg or their arm even when all they had left was a mangled stump.

Being paralyzed was way different. There was no feeling of my legs. I remembered what they used to feel like, the strength and flex of them. But now there was no feeling at all. No pins and needles feeling of numbness you get when you sleep wrong. No feeling that you had something attached below your waist.

All there was, was a feeling of something missing and the constant visual reminder of what that damn bullet took from me. Add to that the vision of the power I had in my legs slowly disappear day by day as I healed from the wound to my spine. I didn't fully realize how much my world had changed until I got out of that damn hospital.

Everything was now above me. Counters that used to be at waist level were now eye level. Cabinets where dishes, cups, and other things were stored that once were a reach away were now out of reach for me. The unthinking dance that you do to avoid others as you walk down a street was a memory for me, now it was like the sea of people parted before me as I rolled down the sidewalk.

Sure I adapted, overcame, that was what Marines did. They took what was thrown at them and they won. I changed my life to function as virtually half a man.

Tommy helped when he could. He always helped me when I needed it without even asking. We were twins after all, he always had my back and I always had his. I was so proud of him when he told me that he was selected to go to Pandora for research. That was his dream since we were kids.

Then my life changed again because of a damn bullet. I burned my brother and spread his ashes in the same place our parents were. Then I packed everything I had left and told those suits I would take their offer and replace Tommy on Pandora.

At first I thought it was just another hell hole like Earth. Commanders trying to scare the crap out of you. Greedy suits trying to take everything from you. Doctors trying to tell me what I could and couldn't do.

Then everything changed again. I woke up and the first thing I felt was my legs. After years of nothing, just the feel of moving my big toe made me giddy. The doctors just babbled at me about tactile responses and other junk, but all I cared about was that I could feel my legs. So what if they were five feet long and blue.

Yeah I know I should have listened to them, I mean I had just taken control of one very expensive body. But I could feel the power in my legs again! I felt the pulse of blood pumping through them. The flex and stretch of the tendons and muscles. I couldn't wait, this was great, and I had to use them.

So I busted out of that room, and the building, and when I finally got control I just….ran. The feeling of running is something you never forget when you can't anymore. The thump of your feet hitting the ground as you pump your legs almost feels like you could take off as you go.

Then it was enough to just stop and dig my toes into the soft, rich loam of Pandora.

Then Grace threw a piece of fruit at me.

I guess that is another story, but one thing is certain. I will always mourn Tommy, he was my brother and I would give anything to have him back, here and alive. But I will be forever grateful for the gift he gave me when he was taken away, especially as I look at my new life here on Pandora, my new legs, and my new family.