Hope it makes you smile

[shellk]

I just wanted to share something with you all..

There is a young man maybe 20-25 years old in our area who has DS...This young man travels all over via the city bus. My husband has called me a couple of times telling me about this young man because everytime he sees him, he says it makes him feel better and brightens his day.
Today the kids and I were driving down the road and we saw him get off the city bus that was in front of us. Now I see why this guy brightens up my DH's day....He is not only a handsome young man, but he wears a CD player stapped to his side and as soon as he got off of the bus he started....he will take a step and then hold out his arms and spin in a circle...I mean with every step my oldest daughter and I paid attention to him for over a block and he would step...spin...smile.. This young man just gave you the impressions that he lives in the moment and that life is ALL good....Just the sweetest thing. I can't even explain teh carefreeness that he exuberated...GREAT..I called my husband as soon as I got home and told him that we saw him, and he said to me "Didn't that make you morning?" I have to agree it did...Not only does the young man get all over Pinellas County (Florida) via the city bus....He still has a great time doing it..

I just thought that I would share this with everyone because I hope that one day when Kourtney gets older that she will live in the moment and brighten someone's day while they are driving down the road....


Michele

[amyzimoski]

that story made me smile See I think that our children are lucky that they don't know all the bad in the world that we do. In a way I think that is their gift.
Thanks for sharing!

Have a great day!

Amy

[wrblack]

Yes, thanks. It did make me smile, and exercise a little mental imaging. Also reminded me of this story, posted a while back to the Down-syn list:
At First Glance
By Edwin Leap, M.D.

The value of a life is always more than meets the eye.

_____

Vacationing near a mountain lake in Tennessee, I watched as a woman began
the walk from her cabin to the pool where my children and I were playing.
>From a distance, I wasn't sure if she was old or young. She appeared heavy,
wore a large hat and walked with a slightly awkward gait. It became clear as
she drew closer she had been born with Down syndrome. She was probably in
her late 20s or early 30s. She did not carry herself with grace or elegance.
She was pale, and her one-piece bathing suit was plain, like those that
grandmothers wear as they watch their grandchildren splash in the warm water
on beaches at low tide.

I was a little anxious. No family or friends accompanied her. She placed her
towel on a lounge chair, sat down and faced the clear water. I wondered if
she understood the danger and depth of the pool as she sat relaxed near the
deep end. My triple engines of worry, fatherhood and medical degree began to
make me anxious.

She moved to the edge of the pool, and I fidgeted. Was she even supposed to
be there? Was someone looking for her, concerned she might come to harm? I
quietly wondered these things as she slid into the water and began to glide
across the pool with the even, silent strokes I have always desired but
never accomplished. I don't believe my jaw dropped, but I'm sure my eyes
widened. I laughed to myself. She had spent years swimming; for all I knew
she may have been a special Olympian. The water received and embraced her.

Her kicks were quiet, and the cyclic movements of her arms made no splash on
the surface. Her breathing was relaxed and measured, and one might have
assumed she was some aquatic creature born and raised in the depths of the
ocean. The body that seemed cumbersome on land became graceful and elegant
the second she pushed away from the ladder. Her awkwardness dissolved in the
water; she was transformed before my eyes.

Too often, those of us with healthy bodies and minds imagine that our world,
the one in which we individually dwell, is the best one. We believe,
falsely, that imperfect lives are malformations and mutations that should
never have occurred. It's easy to make sweeping statements about quality of
life when our reference is the quality of our own. I saw in that young woman
how easily I could be wrong and how wonderful it was to see the truth.

Sometimes I mistakenly think God's destiny for certain groups is a thing
that will begin when He makes them whole, that somehow, those with genetic
anomalies or debilitating medical problems will simply have to suffer
through and that we will suffer as we care for them until such time as they
enter God's presence through death, or He returns to renew all life in the
way originally intended.

But the truth is, I can't discern her quality of life. And I have no idea of
God's destiny for her. I suspect her quality of life is wonderful, if her
swimming was any indication. And she lives, so God must have something in
store for her. Maybe we are only a discovery away from a chemical or genetic
manipulation that will "cure" her, and with a subtle flick of a biological
switch, an activation of what someone thought was "junk DNA," transform her
into something hidden in her chromosomes all along: world-class athlete or
intellectual giant. Maybe not.

More likely, the ultimate value of her life is something I will never know.
God is under no obligation to explain these things to me. I think He smiles
as I ponder them, but He will reveal them only in His good time. All I know
is that in a few laps across the pool, that young woman showed me that every
life has more value than I can ever begin to see, and more wonder and
potential than I can imagine.

[shellk]

:Dwrblack,
What a beautiful story that ws thanks for adding that...It goes to show that we all have MANY hidden talents

Michele

[steffipoo]

;D it worked see? ;D ;D ;D