Animals, Art & Rod Stewart - When Life Gave Her Lemons, She Made Some Beautiful Lemonade
At 2 feet 7 inches tall and having broken over 500 bones by the time she was 10, Katherine Klimitas is still unstoppable. Born with a disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, this wheelchair-bound wonder has developed herself into a formidable graphic design artist, pet portraitist and someone so magnetic, Rod Stewart sought her out in the middle of a packed arena, to meet. Discover her story here.
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BIO:
Hi! As you’ve probably guessed by the tab you just clicked on, I’m Katherine, the creator and writer of Looking Up: The Insights, Antics, and Experiences of Katherine Klimitas.
Looking Up. The truth is, I’ve had a lot of practice doing just that throughout my life both literally and metaphorically. In the literal sense, I am 2’7″ short and view the world from either laying down on a table or sitting in an electric wheelchair. From what I gather, it’s a bit of a different perspective than most people have. It’s the ONLY one I’ve ever had, so what do I know? Other than the whole crick in the neck thing and not being able to see over anything three feet tall, it’s really not that big of a deal most of the time.
In the metaphorical sense, I always try to keep a positive outlook on life, no matter how difficult it gets. One of my biggest challenges is that I break bones – a lot – and sometimes that just plain ‘ol sucks. (I have a genetic bone disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or Brittle Bone Disease, that causes most of my physical issues. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – more on that later.) My family has gone through all kinds of difficult experiences, ranging from the death of a parent to losing every physical possession in a hurricane. Assuming I don’t scare you off by the end of this bio, you will soon see that I am super sarcastic, inherited my father’s dry sense of humor, and am generally not afraid to speak my mind (that part is all mom’s genes). They say you can either laugh or cry, and I try to choose laughter any chance I can (but not too hard because then I might break a rib – seriously).
What can you expect from this blog? At this point, I don’t have a concrete answer to that. I have a vague plan of where I’d like to take you, but a good part of the direction will be up to you and what you guys enjoy and respond to. I CAN tell you that I will make you laugh, smile, and most importantly, THINK. Perhaps my greatest pet peeve is that people just don’t THINK anymore before they speak or act. They rely on technology so much that without it, they are basically dysfunctional. Now, I believe wholeheartedly in social darwinism and can’t promise to change the human race as a whole, but I do hope that reading my posts makes YOUR day just a little bit better and maybe makes you think about something to which you’d normally be oblivious.
Last disclaimer and then you are on your own: I am not now nor have I ever claimed to be a writer. I’m an artist. I’m a graphic designer. (Check out some of my artwork if you have a minute.) I like to talk. That means that these blogs are probably not going to be the epitome of the English language and I’m sure will have a few misspellings and hanging prepositions. But if you get hung up on that stuff, then you are missing the point of the blog anyway and need to find something else more to your liking. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt my feelings.
With that, thank you for entertaining my newest online venture and please don’t hesitate to comment, ask questions, and get involved. Sign up for my email list below to get notifications when I post a new blog and for other fun stuff involving my artwork! If you want to know more about me or want my face on your coffee table, feel free to pick up a copy of my book, Looking Up (do you see a theme here?). You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.