Yesterday afternoon I was on the phone with my lovely mamasita. I was guiding her through a graph that she was trying to create on excel. Somehow our conversation drifted into something completely non-Microsoft related and we started talking about a lady named Hanna. My mother calls her a special woman and probably the most grateful and thankful person in the world. Growing up I remember Hanna as a happy and positive lady, but it wasn't something extraordinary to me. Everyone I knew always seemed happy and excited. My parents were happy, my friends were happy, our pastor was happy, even my neighbors, who seemed slightly on the dodgy side, were always smiling and to me that was HAPPY. I believe it was the same year I was born that Hanna had a son, Simon. Unfortunately he was born with down syndrome and through the years I’m sure they have both faced challenges that you and I can only imagine. In a society where everything is up for discrimination and scrutiny, being ”different” is hard as is, without adding additional curveballs. Simon has become a wonderful young man who loves music and who is very independent, but what else is there to expect from a person who grew up with nothing but a mothers love and encouragement. If happiness is an emotion, and we all know emotions are never constant, and joy, a state of being then maybe Hanna isn’t just happy, but she feels joy. We all have issues and things that need to be cleared up and solved; no man is free from that. However, when we hear stories such as this one it helps us put things into much needed perspective. What a great example of hope and strength.
Smooch!
