Community is everything. 💙 Wil enjoying the music and festivities at a Buddy Walk past. To celebrate Wil’s 20th Buddy Walk, I penned an article for the Manchester Mirror all about the power of showing up, local love, and the amazing people who make it all possible. We are endlessly grateful for the support right … Continue reading Miles of Memories: Marking Two Decades of Community
Love the not-so-normal norm
Do you want me to tell you it’s all sunshine and rainbows? It’s not—but there is a lot of that. I really don’t think you can enjoy the full extent of the sunshine without the rain, though. And can you really see all the colors of the rainbow without a cloudy backdrop? I’m writing this, … Continue reading Love the not-so-normal norm
Creating Companions
Wil (in backwards cap) & friends To see our teenagers sit together comfortably, easily, familiarly — that was the goal many years ago when we parents joined Down Syndrome Support Team. We parents were just trying to figure out what the heck this life with an extra chromosome meant. We laughed, we cried, and we … Continue reading Creating Companions
Independence Takes a Village with Dependent Children
I have recently gotten back in the pool (after a year 😅) thanks to our friend, Dawn, taking great care of Wil after school and honing in on his life skills learning. While I swam Monday, Dawn’s husband came over to have a guitar jam session with Wil 🎸 When you have a dependent child, … Continue reading Independence Takes a Village with Dependent Children
Headway
Watching Wil get his haircut today had me nearly in tears. The clippers buzzing, Wil chatting, smiling, relaxed. Years ago this sight was a distant dream. The haircut triggered my emotions, but deep down it’s about progress. It’s about feeling so desperate and on-guard with almost anything you do, because so much is a struggle … Continue reading Headway
Paradoxical Path
A singular new word Wil calmly adds to his vocabulary, in a such a way that only I — or his closest educators — would hear stands out like a stacatto flashing me back in time to a movie reel loop when he was 5 or 7 or 10, working a skill on a repeat … Continue reading Paradoxical Path
Wil rode is bike to school!
https://videopress.com/v/hezs5Vyj?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true Wil wanted to ride his bike to school. We live on a busy road so we agreed on him riding from a park about a mile away. He’s 17 years old so of course did NOT want me with him. We agreed I’d meet him where the sidewalk curves to the high school. It’s … Continue reading Wil rode is bike to school!
Staying Open
It happened after an event in the high school gymnasium. I don’t remember the event, but the after-scene is a moving photograph vivid in my mind. Wil approached a group of male high school peers on the gymnasium floor. At his approach, the circle broke with fist bumps, hellos, and high-fives with Wil. Two boys … Continue reading Staying Open
Steps in Time
Just 2 years ago during graduation party time I needed an eagle eye on Wil. At one party he fled the party and would not leave the front porch. At another he ran to a side street and sat in the middle of it. Yesterday, at each grad party he hung with his buddies. And … Continue reading Steps in Time
On Teenage Terms
Wil was being a full-on teenager and I was being a full-on frustrated parent of a teenager. I had prepared him for this orthodontist appointment for over a week. And he likes the orthodontist. He likes the orthodontic hygienists. He likes picking out new colored bands for his braces. The issue was not the orthodontist. … Continue reading On Teenage Terms