REcreation

My first REAL interaction with a person with an intellectual or physical disability was in High School on a mission trip to Nashville, TN. It was called Mission Fuge, and we spent a week doing several different service “tracks” they called them in different areas. The track I chose was “Sports and Recreation” because, well, I'm me. We went to a middle school every day and played games with youth with disabilities. I remember thinking that’s not what I wanted to spend my week doing because I was SO uncomfortable and didn’t really know what to say or do. By the end of the week, as you can imagine, I was hooked on those kids. That one week isn’t the reason I chose adaptive recreation as a career path, but it did help me get a head start for when I got introduced to Camp Arc in Rock Hill. Working in Rock Hill has been and always will be my favorite job, and working with our special needs adults and kids was the reason I loved it so much. I just never thought I would have as rewarding of a job as I do, and the more I can share about it, the more I hope others will get involved in these people’s lives too.

I love my husband. This guy is my opposite as far as being annoyingly social. I drag him to events with people he doesn’t know, I sign him up for EVERYTHING without asking, I talk to everyone within eye’s distance, and he just stands beside me and deals with it.  I remember taking him to the dance out at Camp Arc one summer. I don’t think he knew quite what he was getting himself into. Fortunately, when you walk into a special needs dance, you are a rock star. Everyone needed to know his name, his birthday, his connection to me, and why he was there. They immediately made him feel comfortable; I had nothing to do with it.  Over time I’ve made him volunteer or accompany me to a million Special Olympics things. He’s even volunteering with the Special Olympics golf program this summer, in which neither of us can swing a golf club correctly. Since the first day I met Eric, I knew he had a big heart. It’s why I married him and why he still puts up with my junk on a daily basis. This past weekend, he led my Miracle League Skills Clinic for me. I asked him for some baseball drills we could do with the kids, since he’s a baseball guy and helped his dad coach a bit in college. Not only did he give me some ideas, he ran the entire thing. He was teaching our kids how to hold a bat, how to not use it as a weapon, and really took the time to explain everything so that they would improve. His interaction with folks with special needs has come a long way in three years and I've loved watching him grow. He had a huge smile on his face when we left the field, not because I made him come out and help me or because he felt like he had to. It’s because he wanted to. He enjoyed it. He was in his zone. He now asks me when my next adaptive recreation dance is so he can be there. I can brag on him all day long, but I won’t, because if you know Eric, you know all this. He’s the coolest.

This is the kind of family I envisioned having some day. With a husband and hopefully kids who see people for their similarities, not their differences. Who see kids as kids. Who play baseball, who dance and sing karaoke, who go to summer camp. I want my family to love Jesus and to love people. This is a good start. And my husband is a good model.