Wow. What a gift and blessing she is!

I just finished a four month volunteer position of teaching arts and crafts to developmentally disabled seniors. When I was in high school, I had to drop off my oldest sister who was an adult ed/special ed teacher at the local state hospital. All those different looking people used to scare me–people with Down’s Syndrome, micorcephalism, hydrocephalism, people with cerebral palsy, brain damaged from tumors, severely austistic, and on and on. I would swelter in the hot sun with the windows rolled up while waiting for her to get off work, because the guys who would put their hand in the car to touch the steering wheel or shake my hand would scare me! Flash forward 35 years, and here I am teaching these same kinds of people! I learned that some peole with Down’s are very meticulous when gluing or working with rubber stamps. Some of them may look like “nobody’s home,” but ask one to smile and you get a thousand watt grin in return! “I did it all by myself!” was a victory cry. I learned that these people are not what the world considers “normal,” but they were certainly excellent teachers for me.

(Sorry you had such a hard time moving in, and I am glad that the pipes and moldy cabinet problems are being addressed before it threatens your health!)