Christie Taylor Uncategorized

RISE UP FRIDAY!

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RISE UP FRIDAY!
Acceptance of differences is easy to say, but quite challenging to live on a daily basis. Acceptance is not a stagnant place. Acceptance is ever-changing, ever-growing, ever-evolving, and downright frustrating at times as these 3 siblings can attest. To live in full acceptance we must change, grow and evolve with it. Yet therein lies its great beauty.

Christie Taylor Uncategorized

Little, Big Discoveries

Cute Wil hat

Yesterday during Katherine’s Taekwondo and Elizabeth’s soccer practice, Wil and I made a quick trip to CVS. As we walked down the hair products aisle, I didn’t take much notice to the things around me. I’ve been down this aisle many times before. I know what’s there and where I need to go to get what I want.

But not Wil. He stopped me about half-way through the aisle said, “Mom look!” I turned around and saw Wil was in front of a shelf, slightly hunched over and his face was inches from a box with a silver circle on it. He discovered he could see his reflection in this silver circle and was making silly faces. He looked up at me and we both laughed. “Mom, you try!” So I did. Who knew you could have so much fun in the hair products aisle at CVS?

It’s very easy for me to unconsciously put blinders on to things I believe I’ve already seen before. But Wil never does. With him there is always something new to be discovered. As many times as he has awakened me from this forward-focused state, I still marvel at the power these little discoveries in life have.

Christie Taylor Uncategorized

A Moment Matters

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When Wil was a baby and I went to our first Down Syndrome Support Team meeting I walked in wide-eyed, nervous, overwhelmed by it all. I saw parents easily chatting, welcoming, kind, so, well, normal.

These parents shared stories with me. They were a soothing tonic. When everything felt so untypical, listening to their stories in everyday voices, made me feel right at home. Many parents said in their own words, “You are in for a great journey. It will be challenging yes, but you will also be very thankful. Its hard to understand this right now, but you will.”

I didn’t understand, so therefore, remembered this. And then the answers started to come. Not as a big epiphany, but in bits and pieces; in seemingly typical moments. Moments that if these parents were to explain, would not hold the significance they do today.

These moments are in the way your child figures out a way to find his favorite song on Spotify, and plays it over and over and over and over to the point you think you can hear it no more. But later, in the car, when that same song comes on the radio, you find yourself smiling.

These moments are in the way your child steps out of the car on a cold morning, and never forgets to stop and watch his breath.

These moments are in the way your child never, ever stops singing. There is always music that lives inside of him.

These moments are in the way when he wants you to join him, he says, “Mom, sing” and even if you make up a song, he will sing it with you.

These moments are in the way your child flashes that smile and a bad day simply doesn’t stand a chance.

These moments, as simple as they may seem, hold great significance in the way live them. This is what I did not understand at one time, but now I do.
My friends were right. Yes, I am so very thankful.