"Always Reaching"

I found this on Three's a Charm and she found it on Malakai Stow. It's too good to not keep passing along! In Sean's short four years of life, I have found this to be so true for him as well. So many people have said, "When he hugs you, he hugs you with his whole self." Doug has a second cousin, also named Deb, that taught dance and she once said, "Sean moves with his whole body, every sense of his being. It takes years to teach dancers how to move like that and many never get there." His spirit is just.right.there.


"Always Reaching" written by a father of a child with Down Syndrome:

From the STL DS Newsletter
by Matthew’s Dad

Every time I see my son, I reach for him.

It doesn’t matter if he rounds the corner 4 seconds after I have seen him last, or if I am picking him up from school and have not seen him for hours…I reach for him.

I can be 1 foot away or 100 feet away…I reach for him just the same. I reach for him with my arms, with my eyes, with my heart.

I wonder sometimes what I am reaching for.

I have seen this in other people when they see my son.

My family, my friends and perfect strangers. They all reach for him.

I see the same movements, the same gestures, the same need to hold out their hands for him. They want him to come to them, some know him and some don’t. Some call his name and others just motion for him. But they all seem to want him to come.

For a moment, you can see his spirit reflected in their faces. I watch the smiles grow across their faces with a fullness that is unavoidable.

When he falls into their arms (which is what he does to everyone), I see a momentary peace envelop them, and their eyes close, they pull him in and they experience what I call “The Joy of Matthew”.

He gives it to you. He wraps you in it. He wriggles and squirms and mashes the love into you. If you did not know what to expect, you may be surprised and find yourself amazed at the feeling, overwhelmed at the emotion he carries with him.
I am lucky. I get to hold him all the time.

And I have been able to think about that feeling and where it comes from and what it may mean. I think Matthew is a window through which we see a pureness of emotion… pure happiness, pure sorrow, pure joy and pure love.

Despite what some may think, our special children are closer to God than we are. We see so much in them that we lack. We wish quietly in so many ways that we could be more like them. And when we hold them, if just for a moment, we feel closer to God.

That must be why I am always reaching for my son.

That must be why they all reach for him.