I’ve already blogged about having an adult daughter with Down syndrome and how that’s so much different from having a younger child with DS. It’s tougher in many ways: the gap between that child and your other non-DS kids, in addition to the gap between that child and most everyone else, is so much wider…
Read more Down syndrome PLUS other challenges, like mental health
I read this blog post thanks to a friend sharing it on Facebook, and I had too many ideas to share in a comment, so I’m writing my own post with my takes on the idea. Liane Kupferberg Carter wrote “For Some Moms, the Nest May Never Be Empty.” I wrote last year that my second daughter,…
Read more How my nest is different thanks to DS
The holidays can bring such joy — families gather together to share specially prepared meals, exchange gifts, and savor the particular magic that seems to permeate the air. Frosty windowpanes frame displays of trees and candles whose lights dance about merrily. The cold makes noses jauntily pink, and hot cocoa and spiced cider warm everyone…
Read more 5 ways to make the holidays more meaningful
Over 18 years ago, I found out through a blood test and amniocentesis that my second child had Down syndrome. Back then, there wasn’t much in the way of the Web, so I went to the library. I found one book that talked a bit about children with DS and had a few pictures that…
Read more New territory: Having an adult child with Down syndrome
With my teen years firmly set in the ’80s, Prince was firmly set in my musical consciousness. His songs were fun, catchy, danceable and clear indicators of his genius. But his music and persona have become part of the fabric of my family’s life, as it’s turned out, so his death today comes as a…
Read more Purple pain
My last blog post was about my goal to take better care of my health, with a multi-pronged approach. I did well for a few weeks. And then I didn’t. The catalyst for getting completely foiled, at least for the past month, was my grandmother’s death. It was expected; she was 99, and my family…
Read more Taking care of myself? Tougher than tough
Today is the anniversary of my father’s death — officially (he was on life support for a day or two and then “declared dead”). I think he was really gone very late on the 13th or early the 14th. His brain experienced two big hemorrhages and I’m sure it was really “over” fairly soon. I…
Read more Different kinds of mourning
Today my husband and I are celebrating our 22nd wedding anniversary. And as much as I love to celebrate and love to love, I also love to remind people that choosing a marriage partner is serious business. Sure, it involves those butterflies and fireworks, but it also involves solid doses of reality. Here’s one: finding…
Read more I’m glad I didn’t marry my ‘soul mate’
It’s difficult for me as a mother, period, and as a fellow mother of a daughter with Down syndrome, to read the words of Hallie Levine, who says she would have aborted her daughter during her pregnancy if she’d had the diagnosis then. Sure, she says now she’s grateful she didn’t, but she asserts she…
Read more How much of life do we ‘sign up for’?
I believe in what’s now referred to as “traditional” marriage. I strongly believe it should be between a man and a woman. And I believe this because of my faith. So I am not celebrating today’s Supreme Court ruling. I realize that many are, and that this is now the law of the land. I…
Read more I still believe in ‘traditional’ marriage