The Kindness of Strangers

I have one more thing to say about life with dd kids, before I go and get my sleep deprivation cured.

I always wonder how people will react to my kids. Most people don't understand about disability, so I wonder how "the public" will react to their unusual behavior. They have great personalities; George is sweet and friendly but doesn't talk much, while Anna's a magpie and cute as heck. But I still wonder if people will accept them or be overwhelmed by their confusion. It's hard to explain, but as sweet and friendly as my kids are, they don't act like normal kids.

Most of the time, though, I'm surprised by how people react to them. It's like they can convey their specialness to others and people are drawn to them because of it. It's also often touching to me. For example, I want to share how people reacted to George yesterday in Mass. My mother-in-law have decided to bring George with us each week, for lots of reasons. The most important reason is that he's able to handle sitting in church for an hour each week. He's great; he loves the choir and if we give him a quiet toy, he mostly sits. If he moves around, it's manageable.

Yesterday, however, he stood up in the pew and turned around to interact with the woman sitting behind us. She smiled back at him when he smiled at her. He took her hands and "danced" with her, and she genuinely enjoyed it. She even let him hug her twice. After Mass, I thanked her for her generosity, and she acted surprised that I was worried about it.

We had to stay after Mass because I wanted to attend the Liturgical Ministers' training. I decided to bring George with me where it was happening in the front pews of the church. We were sitting next to this gentleman, and before he knew it, George had snuggled up next to him while sucking on his bottle. I explained, "George is the best snuggler in the whole world" (which he is), and the man put his arm around George like they were old friends. After we were done, the man commented on how sweet George was and that he enjoyed sitting with him.

As I think about both those incidences, my eyes tear up a bit. I believe that one of the reasons God put George on this earth is to spread love. I always say that George has taught me the most about love than anyone else in the world. He gives it out so freely, and as his Mom, I get bunches of it. In that way, the burden of raising him is light.