(The Emi Series 2/5: Nan/Mom)

(The Emi Series 2/5: Nan/Mom)

"I have mixed emotions about kids' birthday parties. I get excited when Emi gets an invitation to one because it means someone considers her a friend. Then there was a time, early one morning during Emi’s TK school year, that one of her classmates began handing out invitations to a birthday party. I overheard the classmate telling another friend, ‘I’m having a birthday party and we’re doing karate. You can come!’ Then as this classmate saw Emi approaching, she said to Emi, ‘I’m having a birthday party and we’re doing karate so you can’t come.’

And then she quickly ran off and continued her merry morning inviting friends to this party. Emi, unaware of what just happened, continued her morning routine, unaffected. As I walked with her and held in the broken pieces of my heart and spirit, I started rationalizing reasons why this happened. Emi is not a steady walker and physically needs help getting around, so, karate would be challenging (and Emi doesn’t love those types of physical activities anyway). Emi is non-verbal, so not everyone connects with her or wants to be friends (well, we don’t have to be friends with everyone). It was not our party, so the birthday girl was entitled to do whatever she wanted with whomever she wanted (and to be honest, we’d be selective with our guest list as well). So while I felt the sting of having my child intentionally left out, I also remembered that these things happen – to everyone. And it makes the birthday parties that we do get invited to – wholeheartedly – that much sweeter. "

#ThisIsDownSyndrome #TheLuckyFew