Why Wilingness
I’m best known around town as “Wil’s Mom.” My legal name is Christie Taylor — but honestly, I’ve grown into both.
One day my teenage daughter Elizabeth looked over my shoulder as I was writing a story for this site.
“I’m sure he gives you lots of material,” she said — laughing and rolling her eyes at the same time.
Elizabeth has always had a gift for seeing people clearly. She wasn’t wrong. But Wil has never just been material to me — he’s been the whole story. And really, we all are.
Wil gives me material the way life gives you material — not by being a character, but by being fully, stubbornly, joyfully himself. He has Down syndrome. He is 19 years old. And living alongside him has been the greatest evolution — and revolution — of my life.
I started writing about Wil because I needed somewhere to put it all. The hard days and the hilarious ones. The breakthroughs that only a handful of people in the world would understand the full weight of. The moments that flash you back five years and push you forward at the same time. Writing helped me see what I was living — and sharing it helped me find the people who were living it too.
That’s what Wilingness is. It’s the place where Wil’s stories become ours.
Maybe you’re a parent early in this journey, desperately wishing for a crystal ball — just one clear look at what’s ahead. Maybe you’re an educator who has loved a student the way I love my son and are looking for language for that. Maybe you stumbled here by accident and something made you stay. Wherever you’re coming from — I think you’re here for a reason.
We are not the same. But there is a thread that runs through all of us who have been changed by someone the world underestimated. That thread is what this place is built on.
I’m glad you found it.
