(no subject)
Every calendar in our home had the word 'CAVE' scrawled in the large, deliberate handwriting of children on the date of July 25th. Courtesy of my brother.
Saturday was a day he had long been looking forward to because that was the day we were going on a tour of a cave down in St. Paul. (I know, I wasn't aware that St. paul had caves either. But apparently they do.) Our family is connected with a Christian disabilities ministry called the Barnabas Ministries - my brother is part of the teen class but as he grows up, we've been trying to slowly integrate him into the adults group through parties and outings. This cave trip was one of those outings, so the group consisted of myself, Josiah (the aforementioned brother), six other disabled adults, an aide and a grandparent-y couple who are part of the ministry. I adore this group so much. The group consisted of five guys (not including Josiah) who were all picked up by two of the couple and rode together to the cave. And somehow they all managed to squeeze into a tiny compact car. Ha!
One of the adults there was a quiet twenty-something who has Downs syndrome, who we've known for years and is the sweetest thing ever. I love that kid to death. Another member of the group was an older guy (I think he's somewhere in his 50s? Not 100% sure)who is mentally retarded but very high-functioning and boy, he is bursting at the seams with personality. I've met him a few times before but never had a chance to really talk to him. Gah, he is so dang cute! He was wearing a pair of black slacks, nice sneakers and a Rolling Stones concert t-shirt which was given to him, he proudly informed me, by one of his nieces. We talked about music for a while and it turns out he also likes Eric Clapton and Journey. [At this point I think I turned to Josiah - who was too busy watching a hawk fly overhead to care much about what I was saying - and informed him that someday he will wear a Journey or Clapton tour T-shirt with equal pride. Or else.] He then pulled out his wallet and took out an old, wrinkled magazine cut-out of one of the members of KISS and, mimicking the expression, told me that he once dressed up like them, paint and all. The rest of the group were people I had not met before so it was fun to get to know them. It was pretty easy to talk to all of them because they were all very high-functioning and, besides Josiah and Colin, were very good talkers :)
We went through the tour and the whole group did wonderfully. We were only eleven members of a massive tour group. Not a favorable happenstance when you're with a group of disabled people. Nope. But everyone took it in stride (even Josiah!!) and they all had a blast! Success! I was so proud of Josiah because there were times, many in fact, where the tour guide (who looked strikingly like Tom Hanks. And I mean STRIKINGLY. It weirded me out, to be honest) was babbling on and on and you could tell he was getting antsy. But he held himself back and by the time we got to the raw caverns he was giggling and laughing out loud. We had this inside joke going in where we'd ask him what he thought we'd see in the cave, to which he'd respond with shining eyes 'Dinosaurs!'. At one point we were walking through a dark cave, lit only by the tour guide's flashlight and I turned to Josiah and whispered 'Where are we?' and he whispered back 'Dino cave!'. At another point we walked past a long tunnel that we were not allowed to go through leading off to another cave and I said 'Look, I bet that's where the dino sleeps.' and you should have seen his face! His brow wrinkled contemplatively and he stood for a while, trying to peel down the dark tunnel. God, I love that kid.
Afterwards we rejoined my mom, who spent her time reading in the next-door coffee shop (she has major claustrophobia issues) and went to Perkins for lunch.
I'm just so gosh-darn happy. This is something we'd never be able to do two years ago; taking Josiah on outings and such. He's come so far and I'm so friggin' proud of that kid. even though sometimes I hate his guts because, though he is two years younger than me, he is almost six feet tall. While I remain at five-foot-three.
Saturday was a day he had long been looking forward to because that was the day we were going on a tour of a cave down in St. Paul. (I know, I wasn't aware that St. paul had caves either. But apparently they do.) Our family is connected with a Christian disabilities ministry called the Barnabas Ministries - my brother is part of the teen class but as he grows up, we've been trying to slowly integrate him into the adults group through parties and outings. This cave trip was one of those outings, so the group consisted of myself, Josiah (the aforementioned brother), six other disabled adults, an aide and a grandparent-y couple who are part of the ministry. I adore this group so much. The group consisted of five guys (not including Josiah) who were all picked up by two of the couple and rode together to the cave. And somehow they all managed to squeeze into a tiny compact car. Ha!
One of the adults there was a quiet twenty-something who has Downs syndrome, who we've known for years and is the sweetest thing ever. I love that kid to death. Another member of the group was an older guy (I think he's somewhere in his 50s? Not 100% sure)who is mentally retarded but very high-functioning and boy, he is bursting at the seams with personality. I've met him a few times before but never had a chance to really talk to him. Gah, he is so dang cute! He was wearing a pair of black slacks, nice sneakers and a Rolling Stones concert t-shirt which was given to him, he proudly informed me, by one of his nieces. We talked about music for a while and it turns out he also likes Eric Clapton and Journey. [At this point I think I turned to Josiah - who was too busy watching a hawk fly overhead to care much about what I was saying - and informed him that someday he will wear a Journey or Clapton tour T-shirt with equal pride. Or else.] He then pulled out his wallet and took out an old, wrinkled magazine cut-out of one of the members of KISS and, mimicking the expression, told me that he once dressed up like them, paint and all. The rest of the group were people I had not met before so it was fun to get to know them. It was pretty easy to talk to all of them because they were all very high-functioning and, besides Josiah and Colin, were very good talkers :)
We went through the tour and the whole group did wonderfully. We were only eleven members of a massive tour group. Not a favorable happenstance when you're with a group of disabled people. Nope. But everyone took it in stride (even Josiah!!) and they all had a blast! Success! I was so proud of Josiah because there were times, many in fact, where the tour guide (who looked strikingly like Tom Hanks. And I mean STRIKINGLY. It weirded me out, to be honest) was babbling on and on and you could tell he was getting antsy. But he held himself back and by the time we got to the raw caverns he was giggling and laughing out loud. We had this inside joke going in where we'd ask him what he thought we'd see in the cave, to which he'd respond with shining eyes 'Dinosaurs!'. At one point we were walking through a dark cave, lit only by the tour guide's flashlight and I turned to Josiah and whispered 'Where are we?' and he whispered back 'Dino cave!'. At another point we walked past a long tunnel that we were not allowed to go through leading off to another cave and I said 'Look, I bet that's where the dino sleeps.' and you should have seen his face! His brow wrinkled contemplatively and he stood for a while, trying to peel down the dark tunnel. God, I love that kid.
Afterwards we rejoined my mom, who spent her time reading in the next-door coffee shop (she has major claustrophobia issues) and went to Perkins for lunch.
I'm just so gosh-darn happy. This is something we'd never be able to do two years ago; taking Josiah on outings and such. He's come so far and I'm so friggin' proud of that kid. even though sometimes I hate his guts because, though he is two years younger than me, he is almost six feet tall. While I remain at five-foot-three.