Welcome back to No Sports Tuesday. After Monday’s Trump rat-a-tat-tat, we could use a breather. Today, a few words about the meaning of meaningful work.
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Ryan and Jillian, August 2023 (Me)
Jillian was the only kid who was sad on the last day of school. She’d try to mask it, because all the other kids were ecstatic and Jillian wanted very much to be one of them. Her glum 7 a.m. face betrayed her.
“I love my school,’’ she’d say.
Her classmates were almost always kind, and over the years Jillian’s positivity wore well. Kids are perceptive. What the kids in Loveland schools perceived in Jillian was a daily optimism, gregarious and free of all judgment.
As a child born with Down syndrome, she had her share of challenges, but so did every other child. Jillian became a member of the JV dance team that performed at halftime of basketball games. She befriended her teachers, who were taken by her spirit. Jillian was not at all self conscious. As such, she was entirely open to giving and receiving kindness.
When we hosted a party at Shooter’s in Loveland, to mark Jillian’s 21st birthday, we expected 20 well-wishers. I’d announced the gathering on TML earlier in the week, as an afterthought just before Tune O’ The Day. Seventy folks showed up. That was the impact Jillian had on people. Still does.
I mention all this not to brag (well, OK, maybe a little) but as a reminder that we all matter, we all have something to give. Not to acknowledge that is to miss out on some of the light in the world.
I was honored the other night by the organization Genesis at Work. Genesis finds meaningful jobs for young adults with disabilities. They named me Advocate of the Year. I’ve done nothing to merit such an honor, but I’ll take it and I’m flattered.
Truth is, all Kerry and I have ever done is fight for Jillian’s right to be Jillian.
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