Don’t ask me if I am free on Tuesday evenings. This is a sacred time, where I spend an hour with my best friends, getting lost in books about super heroes, any story that involves dogs, and even the occasional educational book about firemen or police officers. Even though we may all be adults, these are the books we enjoy reading together. Between the hours of six and seven I leave the world we exist in, the one filled with war, hatred, judgement, innocent killings and tragedy. Instead, I enter a world that exists in a meeting room at the local library. It is the kind of world that we all dream will one day exist, the one that is filled with laughter, cheering, encouragement, effortless happiness and love. Until that day comes, though, it will continue to exist inside those four walls, where I spend sixty blissful minutes with my best friends. They are learning to read, sound out words, and to put together sentences. They are working to read past kindergarten or first grade levels. They are working on sight words.
They are succeeding.
They are hard-working.
They are persistent.
They are loving, kind, and the word “judgement” does not exist in their vocabulary.
They are seven adults with various mental challenges, including Down Syndrome and Autism.
They are my best friends. My homies with extra chromies. They are the real super heroes.
And they have changed my life.
Two years ago I was diagnosed with celiac disease, an incurable auto-immune disease. I was so sick at the time of getting diagnosed that my doctor would not clear me to work for at least three months. So, I decided to look into volunteering, something I had done previously. I have two certified Therapy Dogs, and we did a lot of volunteering in my healthier days. I figured volunteering once a week would help get me back on my feet, but at a pace I had control over, and was flexible. I was matched with a reading class that met once a week, working to improve the reading skills of mentally challenged adults.
I was hooked and in love the very first day. It’s been a year and a half now, and our class, volunteers, and even some students have changed, but all in positive ways. The biggest change happened to me. I see the world in an entirely different way now. The world, cruel and harsh in an often unrelenting way, leaves us drained, looking for ways to erase the heaviness it creates inside of us. My remedy to this misery exists in the unconditional love and acceptance I find from Danny, Charlton, Jason, Jessica, Phil, Michael and Ross. Their reactions when they finish a book is contagious. Their infinite positive attitudes are contagious. Their smiles, hard work and persistence are contagious. Their willingness to try, their selflessness to help each other and their eagerness to learn are inspiring. The vibe created inside that meeting room is unlike any other, and for me, it is like stepping into a secret world, untouched by the evils that continuously grow out in the real world.
As I write about my Tuesday nights, and escaping from whatever trivial problems I’m experiencing, I realize that the outside world could be worse. If these amazing humans weren’t around, I know for a fact that life would have much less meaning to it. I know this because I have spent time with my best friends outside of our little bubble of bliss inside the library. I’ve been to their birthday parties, or seen movies with them. And I’ve watched the reaction of strangers at their happiness, their personalities, their presence, and I can see a reflection of what I feel, mirrored on those strangers’ faces. My homies have this energy about them that pulls people to them, and makes them feel lighter, happier and comfortable. I’ve watched them play basketball in the Special Olympics. As competitive as they are, come next class, they are all bragging about each other’s medals and accomplishments. They sing and act in plays, they play the guitar, they love to go line dancing and are movie fanatics. They know the statistics of their favorite sports team, and they can tell you anything you want to know about every single president. They have families they love, and are proud aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters. They do their own volunteering, and they even have jobs. They are contributing to a world that does not always accept them, but they are blind to this.
The biggest trait I love about my best friends is their selflessness. If every single person in this world could just harness the smallest amount of this same selflessness, then that secret world I spend an hour in every Tuesday would easily become the world we ALL live in.
