this summer there was internet buzz over the near eradication of down syndrome in iceland. people wrote articles against eugenics and disability. and i agree, it is terrible, right? deciding that your child probably shouldn’t live because they may have down syndrome? i mean, geez louise. mazzy wasn’t too concerned […]
a funny thing kept happening as we walked alone in rows of raspberries. every spot we stopped to pick there would be a better one directly across the way. each time the very next row would hold larger berries, branches with fruit threatening to drop […]
i had a dream last night about bloggers who write about their children with down syndrome. some are so famous online that you’d recognize them in public. in the dream i was walking by lake michigan and a mother had set up her kids for […]
i smell her hair. strawberry shortcake. thin arms and legs with a head too large for any human body. i inhale and wish for the scented air i remember from the doll of my youth. i would have taped that doll to my face like […]
this weekend held world down syndrome day within it. 3/21. if ever there was a reason to dust off the ol’ blog, this is it. a conversation with my dear friend, jamica, reminded me of what being mazzy’s mother has taught me, is teaching me […]
one place in my heart holds a grudge against humanity and all my friends. weddings and birthday parties. whenever i catch wind of another girl’s birthday party happening with no invitation for mazzy, i plot a little murder in my heart. every time i see […]
“the normal kids use these.” mazzy’s classmate says this to me. she says it in the music room. she says it without much thought because there is normal and then there is her – her friends, her class. i am kind of stunned and […]
(this article originally appeared in catapult magazine. the topic has been on my mind, so i thought i’d bring her back out and put a new dress on her.) A close friend knocked on our door a few weeks after our daughter was born. He […]
the difficult parts of life don’t come with instruction booklets. it’s just us, hammering out the days we’re given with flesh and blood. it can be a messy business. add to the mix the odd desire to share that process with people on the internet […]
“something is wrong with my voice.” every once in a while mazzy will ask her dad or i this question. “what’s wrong with my voice?” and we know what she means. she means that she loves to sing, but when she opens her mouth it […]