Connect
Photo of Coraline at almost a year old.
For my Monday blogging group we are writing about the word #connect which was the theme for World Down Syndrome Day on Sunday.
I caught the bus recently for a volunteer outdoor solo photoshoot. I did so, as we were without a car that week.
Thanks to taking the bus I had a view of exactly where the photoshoot was at the back of the library (not where I had expected). I could walk to it quickly, be present and enjoy it. Had I driven I’d have gone straight to the wrong place at the front of the library and felt lost.
I thought how lucky I was I’d taken it. It got me thinking how fortunate I was to have taken the bus in Coraline’s first couple of years, as I wasn’t driving at that stage (which I am now). Something I haven’t stopped to think about before.
Taking the bus back then with Coraline to groups and appointments meant I interacted with people on it, or sat waiting at bus-stops. People invariably chatted to me and Coraline, they admired her, and shared life tales which stayed with me.
If I’d been driving in Coraline’s first couple of years I would have got to my destination quickly, yes, but the world of love and connection with strangers which surrounded me when we were on the bus (and train) would have been lost to me. And I wouldn’t have even been aware there had been something to lose. Input, and a feeling of connection, which has been so important to my journey with Coraline.
Coraline stands with full support from us (she’s not yet independently standing) on World Down Syndrome Day evening