Day 4 – Down Syndrome Awareness Month!
Last Spring, every morning on the way to school the girls
and I watched for the Canadian Geese that rested in the big field at the Middle
School. Being me, I started teaching them
about the Geese – their journey and why they might have settled in a field in
Camarillo, CA. When it was warm enough,
the geese stopped coming and the girls knew that the geese had moved on to home
in Canada and that Spring was definitely on the way. But then a small group; about five, landed in
the field coming in late and on their own.
The girls wanted to know why they were here, for what reason would they
come back…and on and on. So I started
another lesson on geese. I told them
that sometimes when a goose is too ill to fly a group will land with it to
protect it and take care of it until the afflicted goose either gets better and
they all leave together or the goose dies and the others then go on without
it. We talked about the beauty of how
they never leave each other - how they always stick together. From there
we discussed aerodynamics, how the geese take turns leading the "V" to let each rest
and draft off each other; making flying for the sick goose a little
easier.
I thought I was trying to get a message across to them about
sticking together and to (PLEASE) stop fighting so much.
But it wasn’t until this morning… here in October when I took them
to school the five geese were back. Beautiful…sitting
there like this is their favorite stop over, like they were waiting to say
hello to us. I thought all about them
the rest of the day, and then something dawned on me…I didn’t even get the real message I was
teaching until now…I pray that the girls will get it someday too.
Because here it is: This family, US – We, we are the
geese. We are that little band of five
that are sticking together, staying with each other through illness, through so
much that has gone so wrong. Like those
geese, we’ve taken a rest and have stopped here in Camarillo…gathered in a
circle while we take care of our little goose…while we nurse him back to
health, while we help him get stronger and help him get his wings to work. Unlike the geese, I don’t know if we’ll move
on from here or if this “pond” will represent home for us…but I do know
this: We will never leave one of ours behind;
we will rally around him and help him to heal.
We will survive every test, every needle, and every scalpel as long as
we stick together. When we need heart, we’ll let the ten year old
lead our flight, when we need laughter our eight year old, strength will be Dad…and
me…when they are tired, there is always me to take the lead.
And when we are low and we need hope, Bradley
can take the lead; for in his heart, he creates hope and that carries all of
us.
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