Giving New Meaning to Parenting

I was all set to write about more of my efforts to improve respect and cooperation around the house when everything changed yesterday.

There’s a very special young lady at my church named Samantha who is nearly 20 years old. Sammie happens to have Down’s Syndrome, so among other things her speech is very difficult to understand. I met her roughly 8 years ago and have learned enough to carry on part of a conversation, but I must confess that I have to have her repeat herself quite a bit and sometimes get interpretations from her mom or sister to understand.

Sammie is a person of very intense loyalties. If she decides that she loves you, then she loves you. 100%. Up to and including phone calls at 3am just to talk. She has a special place in her heart for our pastor and his wife, bringing them gifts (nearly every week!) of notes she’s written, pictures she’s drawn, or small items she purchases. If for some reason either the pastor or his wife are sick and missing on Sunday morning, you’ll know it from Sammie’s face.

Yesterday we were having a craft event and I was in the foyer with the crowd when I suddenly heard Sammie’s voice over everyone else’s. “Amy! Amy!!!” Over and over again. I turned to see her looking straight at me. When she caught my gaze she pointed cheerily at the person next to her and shouted, “This is AJ!” Then she looked at AJ and said, “That’s Amy.”

I was totally floored. In 8 years, she’s never called me by name before. This was not a problem, just part of how Sammie operates. I didn’t expect her to ever use my name….never really thought about it before that moment. But now that she has I’m so touched. And honored.

The whole thing has me thinking about how small blessings can have such a big impact. I’m grateful beyond words for all that I’ve been given-undeservedly so-in this world.

And now I have another blessing to add to the list.

by AmyL

Photo graciously provided by petrichor, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved