Billy

[susandennis]

The Summer I was 14, I was desperate to volunteer. I wanted to be a proper candy striper with that cool uniform. But, you had to be 16 to do that so I volunteered at a home for mentally (and some physically) challenged kids. Their families had dumped them into what everyone called the retarded kids home.

ASIDE: OMG I just Googled and it's still there!! It was a fairly dismal looking place as I remember it but they've brightened up the physical space and their attitudes quite a bit!

Anyway, I loved it. I loved those kids so much. They were mostly full of smiles and giggles and not at all concerned that the world had thrown them away.

There was one. Billy. Billy adopted me the first day and we spent the Summer pretty much attached at the hip. Billy was going to play ball "like Mikey Mantle!!!!". He told me this every day. Back then, we called what Billy a Mongoloid. He had Downs Syndrome. And he was amazing and wonderful. And always so full of joy and excitement. Every day that Summer was better because Billy was there.

I visited him fairly often after that Summer until I went to college. I hope he's happy and well. He gave me a life long love of everyone with Downs Syndrome. They are beautiful and wonderful people with so much to share.

I'm thinking about him this morning because the 2018 Gerber baby was just announced on national TV and he has Downs Syndrome. Honestly the very idea that someone like Billy is on the Today's Show and is being celebrated brings tears to my eyes.

A lot of the people I follow on Instagram have kids with Downs. I love seeing their adorable faces and hearing their tales of triumph. (I also follow a lot of people who have pet wallabies so conclusions shouldn't really be drawn from my Instagram feed.)

I expect today my Instagram feed will be full of triumph and joy. What a fun thing to look forward to.

Comments

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Last year, we were walking into a baseball game, and we stopped to buy water and peanuts at our favorite outside-the-park stand. A young man was there with his father, decked out, head to toe, in Nationals gear. He had Downs, and as he waited to buy his peanuts, he announced to everyone who would listen that he was going to the baseball game, that he was going to see the Nationals play! I asked him who his favorite player was. His father smiled broadly, clearly already knowing the answer. The man said, "ALL OF THEM!" and laughed so hard that every single person in line started laughing.

It was wonderful to see so much happiness in one person. (And the Nats won that day! :-) )

[susandennis]

I love that - all of that - so much!!

[lifeinroseland.livejournal.com]

One of the most fascinating things I’ve learned at work was from this geneticist who, while examining a child, explained that the “set of genes” that causes Down syndrome provides an upbeat personality. And one day “Corky” (the actor) was saying something along the same lines in an interview. To my delight, he said that the syndrome should actually be called, “Up syndrome.”

[susandennis]

YES!!

[coffeeguy777.livejournal.com]

We have a 20 something working at our store with Downs,She works in the bakery & is the sweetest thing 😍 she tells everyone she gonna open her own bakery some day.I truly believe her.

[lostincandyrain.livejournal.com]

When I was growing up, my friend Matt, who lived at the end of our street had twin brothers, and one of them had Down Syndrome. They eventually put him in one of those homes, which was super hard on everyone, but before they did, we'd be walking home from school, and not infrequently he'd have gotten out of the house somehow, and we'd find him dancing in the middle of a very busy street, or doing something else incredibly dangerous,

and it was always so terrifying, sending one of us to get his parents, and the rest trying to gently dance him out of the middle of the road...

I have such mixed feelings about those homes. He always seemed perfectly happy there, and it was a lot safer, and though it was harder on his family in some ways, it was easier in others...

At any rate, I'm glad Billy had you to befriend him, and yay for the Gerber baby!

[asher63.livejournal.com]

This is awesome, thanks so much for sharing.