Early in "The Wizard of Oz," Dorothy turns her eyes skyward and sings the film's famous lullaby: "If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh why, can't I?"
It's Elise Hansen's favorite film, and she can empathize with the Kansas girl's plight.
Elise and her twin sister, Lisa, were born conjoined at the head. Thirty years ago, the two were successfully separated.
Though they survived the surgery, the sisters suffer mental and physical disabilities. But Elise has not let such limitations stop her from flying out into the world and living the life she wants.
After she graduated from Northridge High School in 2000, Elise found a job at the Pioneer Adult Rehabilitation Center in Clearfield. She puts together cold-weather kits for the Marine Corps — a project that leaves no room for error — despite having only one fully functioning hand, said Merri Ann Perkins, PARC's business development manager.
But Elise didn't stop there. Four years later, she found a second job at the Wal-Mart in Clinton, which was looking for a new greeter.
"The neat thing about Elise is she was the one who wanted it and pushed for it," Perkins said.
She has excelled in her new position, always helping people who are carrying more than they can handle, like a mother with two bags and a baby, Perkins said. On one of her first days as a Wal-Mart greeter, Elise stopped a man from stealing a flat-screen television.
"If she had full capacity, she'd be the manager by now," said her father, Dave Hansen.
Impressed by her independence and personal drive for excellence, Perkins nominated Elise for the national Evelyne Villines Award, an annual honor for an employee who shows outstanding work performance despite the limits of a disability.
Two weeks ago, Elise won it. After giving thanks and sharing anecdotes in her acceptance speech, given to a crowd of about 1,100 people in Atlanta, Elise said she would like to tell President Barack Obama "that all people just want respect. We want to feel independent."
She said the same thing when she went to the Capitol in 2002. Contracts that allowed the blind to work in dining rooms were in danger of being amended to be more limiting, a move that could have left thousands of men and women without jobs.
Elise met with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to tell him that people with disabilities want the freedom to hold jobs, and through them, find independence. The contracts were kept.
Elise isn't done working her way toward independence. She said she dreams of moving out of the house and into her own place. However, she doesn't want to go so far that she can't still see her family or care for her twin, Lisa.
It's no wonder that Elise has a penchant for helping others, be it an overloaded mother in a Wal-Mart parking lot, a PARC co-worker having trouble assembling a kit or a blind person worried about his job.
Before any of those duties were a part her life, her focus was Lisa.
Elise sat on her Clinton home's sofa recently, cradling her sister and stroking her arm. Lisa, who lacks motor functions and average mental capacity, suffers from back pain and needs to be held.
"Are you OK?" Elise asked. Her sister smiled and gave her a nod. Elise smiled back. For many years, Elise has fed and bathed Lisa. She thinks nothing of it.
The separated twins look inseparable.
"She cheers me up on a bad day and makes me laugh," Elise said in her acceptance speech.
She's helped care not only for Lisa, but her four younger siblings as well.
"Sometimes she's more mom than mom," said their mother, Patricia Hansen.
After all, even freedom-seeking Dorothy found time to care for her friends along the way.
E-mail: mmcfall@desnews.com