Spring is in the Air...

I think I've written before that when Jared was born I worried so much. I worried about the quality of life he would have. I worried if he would have things to do, friends, a girlfriend. Well, I needn't have worried. Jared has a nice life. He seems happy. Yes, he has the same ups and downs all teenagers have, but there is still a peace about him, an exuberance for the things we might deem small, but to Jared, a young man who is blessed to live in the moment, every bit of life holds meaning for him. Someone once said to me that summer is like a lemon that we try to squeeze every drop of juice out of. That's how Jared lives his life, and for that I am so pleased. Take his conversations with his girlfriend. On weekends, they talk for hours. First, he calls her, then they break for lunch, then she calls him back, then Jared has to give up the phone for another family member, or to go do his laundry, then they call eachother back...And they talk about the funniest things. One day, when G was telling Jared about her upcoming IEP meeting, the two of them spent the next 1/2 hour yelling, "IPP"! into the phone and laughing hysterically. Think about it; say it; it is kind of funny. Another time, one of them put on the High School Musical soundtrack, and they both sang into the phone to eachother. You can just imagine what that must have sounded like. It makes me happy when I see Jared looking up G's number in the Down Syndrome Assoc. phone book. And the other day, it made me happier still when it seemed as if he had memorized that phone number. I still remember my 3 best friends' phone numbers from dialing them hundreds of times over 30 years ago when we would talk for hours about pretty much nothing. Jared will have G's number in his head and heart for years to come too, I think.