We All Need a Carol in Our Life
We have lived in the same house since our oldest son was a little over four months old. Needless to say, we have grown to know and love our neighbors over time.
But the other children in the neighborhood aren’t who my kids want to hang out with. They don’t gravitate towards them like they do to our neighbors to the left. Of course they want to play with the kids, but they would rather hang out with our fifty year old neighbor Tom and his sister, Carol.
Meet Tom and Carol. They live next door to us with their mother Gene. Carol has cerebral palsy, and Tom helps his mother take care of her. A lot of women of her age would typically be in a group home setting, but both Tom and Gene strive to care for her, often putting her needs ahead of theirs.
Every day, Tom and Carol go for a walk around the outside of the house. And this is how their play time innocently started years ago, but really blossomed in the past year.
The boys would ask if they could walk around with Tom and Carol, and in turn I would always ask Tom. He of course wouldn’t mind. The kids would run and play with Carol, just like she was a normal person, because when you are three and four years old, you don’t know any prejudices of the world.
It was months before they posed any questions about Carol. The first one was why Carol doesn’t talk. I explained to them it is just the way she was born. Some people are born with blue eyes, some people are born with one arm, some people are born like Carol. It is what makes us all different, and great in our own way. Right?
I mean, as a mother I struggled to explain to my boys in the proper way. I didn’t want to word something wrong and have their small imaginations take off. Because we have all been there.
Fast forward to last weekend when we were getting ready for our kids day out at the farm, which was also a trick or treat activity for them. Before we left the house, we went next door so they could show off their costumes and Gene surprised the kids with little treat baskets filled with juice boxes, a couple chocolates and fruit cups. They were all in heaven, and it really solidified their special place in our family.
But the moral of the story is the importance these special people play in our lives. They make us better, they help raise our children with acceptance and tolerance. Which our society desperately needs.
Last week when that ass clown Ann Coulter called the President a “retard” it just made me burn. Because these people, these special gifts to us all, aren’t a burden, or something to put down. They are people to be praised and cherished. Loved and admired.
We all love our Carol’s.
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Tags: Ann Coulter, Cerebral palsy, love, special needs, tolerance
