Another lazy day

[susandennis]

Still just tiny dribbles of work and some promises of more. No biggie but I am hoping the pace picks up. I can't go forever with no income plus, it would be nice to have the diversion of some tasks. I am working hard to enjoy the down time, though.

I need to go to Costco - steak, chops and butter. Maybe tomorrow but I'll bet I could hold out until next week pretty safely. And speaking of supplies, I hope Jake and Betty don't peek into the cupboard where the cat food lives cause they would see that we are running low. We have about a week's worth of canned and maybe that much of dry. No. They would be very nervous.

I did take all of the stuff out of the freezer today and reorder it. I have an abundance of sausages (link, hot dog, kielbasa, etc.) - guess maybe I know what's for dinner tonight...

Someone has apparently trapped a small yappy dog on their terrace. It's been yapping now for about an hour. Some animal lover will be screaming to the building management any minute now.



Today's Memory Lane is brought to you, inadvertently, by spiritgirl. She mentioned that her teenager is volunteering at a camp for kids with Downs Syndrome.

I was 14. I was at an age when I pretty much knew it all. I felt like the years I had left before adulthood were just a formality - an annoyance, really. I wanted very much to do adult things. Like work. But, those fucking child labor laws. Ok, I'll volunteer.

Back in the day, Candy Stripers were where the action was. Seriously. This was before they turned into a porn joke. You got wear a cool candy striped uniform - ok, you had to make it but I could sew and it was simple and I got to use the Official Candy Striper Fabric.

You had to be 15 to volunteer at the hospitals. This was good because I honestly had no desire to go near places where people bled and threw up. The list for 14 year olds was kind of short but there was one place down the road from our house about a half a mile. It was a long walk but doable if I needed to and Mom couldn't drive me (she was only good for chauffeuring on non-bridge, non-tennis days which was about never).

It was a home for children with disabilities. Only this was 1963 so it was the Cripple Children's Home. It was fairly small with various wings of kids with different kinds of problems - a lot of cerebral palsy and spinabifida and a whole lot of Downs Syndrome. It was called Mongoloidism and the kids were called Mongloids and I was given a wing full to watch and play with.

Today they are raised in the mainstream mostly and schooled and socialized and many live long and happy and fairly healthy lives. There was an article in a recent Time magazine about their contributions.

But, back then, they were taken to places like the Cripple Children's Home where they lived until they died - usually at about 14-16. In fact most of the kids at this place died before they saw 16. They were lovingly cared for but not taught or encouraged or treated. Just cared for. Kind of like lifetime Hospice.

But, even so, I had a great summer. Those DS kids were the best. They were fun and loving and they thought I was the greatest thing in the entire world. Every morning I'd walk in there and be treated like Norm on Cheers. They would all shout "SUSAN!!!!" run up to to show me or tell me whatever it was that I had missed since 4 p.m. the day before.

As I look back on it now it seems so sad and wasteful but I also remember very vividly what a special summer that was. I wrote a short story for school the next year based on my experiences and my teacher sent it in to some contest. It won that contest and a couple of others. When Mom and I were going through all her stuff to throw out old shit she didn't want a couple of years ago, I found the story. I didn't read it or save it. I really wanted rather to have it as part of a wonderful memory instead.

Comments

[jawnbc]

I loves me some Mongoloids. I came of age when we were supposed to say Downs...very hard for my 6 year old mind to get around. "But Ma, Brenda's a mongoloid." *smack*

[susandennis]

I hear ya... When I learned there was a country of Mongolia and it was not full of people with short limbs and huge smiles and total joy, I was tres confused.

Oh wow

[spiritgirl.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing. What a cool story. Wish you had saved your article though. My how things were so different. Like watching Girl, Interrupted and the Mental Health system of the 60's. Ha! These days half those girls wouldn't be considered crazy at all, and the most others would be outpatients at best.

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. My first best friend was Johnny Conner and he had a baby sister with Downs Syndrome.
I was about 4 years old and that's all I remember.
I love these memories. Don't stop.

[vasilatos]

Total coinkidinky! When I was 14 in the summer, I volunteered at the "School for Trainable Children" which included a lot of Down kids, intellectually challenged, and autistic kids. LOVED THEM! My stepmother drove their special bus, and the whole school was terrific. We sang the hell out of zippitdy doo dah, and practiced the hell out of going to the bathroom.

Thanks for reminding me.

[susandennis]

Wild. I remember playing baseball. There was one kid with a bad studder who said his name was MMMMMMMickey MMMMMMantle!! He would bat the ball non-stop as long as someone would throw it to him. He would not let you stop unless you recruited your own replacement immediately.

[vasilatos]

The weird part is that you and I seem like we would be good mothers. I can't speak for you, but I am so not on the mother track. (But we probably would have been good... :-)

[susandennis]

oh dear no. I would be the world's worst mother... no skills, no interest, no way

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

Four three or four summers back when I was in junior high I volunteered at a local day camp for "retarded children" -- Camp Hope. (Or, as one of the young kids with Down's syndrome would shout, Camp Hope!!!!) There were lots of volunteers -- the goal was a 1:1 camper to volunteer ratio. There were no severe disabilities in the camp -- I think it was necessary to be toilet trained to attend. I had the same camper all my years -- she was the youngest camper there when I started. I also did a lot of music, as sort of the backup music counselor. It was all great fun.

At one point they built a swimming pool on the camp facilities, and those kids would have been happy if all we did all day every day was swim. I can't blame them. But my camper would have been in absolute bliss if our one daylong activity was "duck duck goose". (Or "cuck cuck shoose" as she said.) She wanted to walk around and around and around saying duck duck duck until it was time to go home. "Say goose, Susie!" we'd sayl, so she'd slap somebody's head with her palm and say "Shoose!" and grab her arms tight to her body with clenched fists and tremble with absolute delight until I picked her up and ran around the circle with her.

I never got the connection between Down's syndrome and a happy fun-loving temperament, but I will swear it's a strong one.