31 for 21 - Day 6 - What Do I Love About Down Syndrome

Parents are powerful people.  The blogging parents behind 31 for 21 have come up with an organized theme for every Thursday in October so that we are all out there blogging away about a topic regarding Down syndrome in a unified and beautiful chorus.


Today's Topic is "What do I love about Down syndrome?"

It's such an interesting topic because usually there is so much fear or ignorance surrounding Down syndrome.  Rarely does the world address the beauty in it and what there is to love about it.


One of the things I really love is the community of people who are touched by Down syndrome.  There is just an unspoken bond.  A general knowledge and quiet understanding of "I know."  "I understand."  "I've been in your shoes."  If you meet a fellow parent, there is an immediate understanding and an immediate bond.  I love that.


I also really, really love Brushfield's spots.  Brushfield's spots are very light specks on the iris of the eyes and are commonly found in people who have Down syndrome.   They are beautiful-- to look into Joey's eyes is to see a beautiful sky night with thousand's of stars.  I love his eyes.


I love that Down syndrome is nothing like I expected it to be.  I thought we would never leave our house again.  We would never be able to travel with our kids.  That we would never find a babysitter who would babysit a baby who has special needs.  I thought we would be sad every day, all day.  I thought our family would fall apart.  I thought that I would fall apart.  I thought the world might stop revolving just because Joey has Down syndrome.  I was wrong.


I love that Down syndrome has awakened a new passion and fire in me to advocate.  It has given me so much to write about.  It has forced us to reevaluate what is important to us and what isn't.  Down syndrome has given me a new focus and has helped me to find my writing voice again.


I love that Down syndrome has taught us that you can be a Lover and a Fighter.

I love that Down syndrome has shifted everything I ever thought I knew.


I love that Down syndrome and Joey has proven me 110% wrong.


I love that Down syndrome has made me slow down and love every second of every single day.


I love that Down syndrome has made me more proud of my son than I ever imagined.  

I love that I live every day more proud that he is breathing, eating and growing than if he were an NFL football player, and NBC television star or the President of the United States.


I love that Down syndrome has taken the world as I saw it and thought I knew and shifted it so completely and so totally into a world that is sweeter, more beautiful and more blessed than I could have ever imagined.


Happy National Down Syndrome Awareness Month!