Joshua's first year at Camp, he was in a cabin with a boy named Jason. Jason was a HOOT! It was apparent from the time Jason walked in that he was gonna be the life of the party. I wasn't sure how his personality and Joshua's were going to "gel." Joshua was born an old soul. He just was. He has never been real playful with others. He was more when he was younger, but he's pretty much been kind of serious his whole life. He thinks a lot of people just act silly, and he just doesn't get it. He doesn't "get" sarcasm or joking around...or even good-natured teasing.
So here comes Jason...all guns blazin'. He ran around the cabin. He did some break-dancing moves in the middle of the floor. He took off his shoes and socks and ran around the room asking everyone to smell his feet. I was cracking up. Joshua looked at him and then asked me, "what's WRONG with him?"
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
The next thing Jason did was dig out his electric razor from his suitcase and turned it on. And then turned it off. And on. And off...and on. Then, the funniest thing happened...one by one, the other boys in the cabin (not Joshua) all got their razors out and started turning them off and on. It was like a symphony of sound. "hummmmm." Then, as quickly as he got it out...he turned it off and put it up. And so did the rest of the boys.
Next, Jason found his disposable camera down in his suitcase. The campers are encouraged to bring one or two disposable cameras. If you bring two cameras, then the camper can use one, and the CIA can use one...and you will actually get some good pictures! Jason brought one disposable camera. He got it out and started taking pictures in the cabin as fast as he could. He took pictures of his feet and his bed and the ceiling and the light and the fan. The whole time, his CIA was saying "Jason, why don't we save some for later? Jason, I don't think your mom will be too happy..." After 27 "clicks," the camera stopped. He slowly finished winding it to the end and very matter-of-factly says, "well, that's done," and put his camera back into his bag and zipped it up. That whole thing took about a minute. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen! I was in love with this place. I just knew this was the camp for Joshua.
I sat down on Joshua's bunk and looked around at the other campers in the cabin. They didn't all have Down Syndrome, but most of them did...and even tho they shared the fact that they each carried that extra chromosome, they were all so different. Tall, short, heavy, thin, red-hair, brown hair, blonde.
A week later, when we came to pick up Joshua, we saw the bonds that had been formed between all the boys in the cabin. We got there early, of course. I was so anxious to see how Joshua made it during his first week of camp...we waited for them to open the gates and I practically RAN to Joshua's cabin. He was really happy to see us and said that he had had a great time. We stood there chatting with his CIA and noticed a boy...one of Joshua's cabin-mates sitting on the ground crying. Before I could say a word, Joshua had run to him and wrapped him up in an embrace. And not just Joshua, but EVERY OTHER BOY from that cabin had surrounded the one who was sad, showering him with comforting words and giving hugs and affirmation.
I'm sorry, people...but could we all just love like that?
Could I?
Such a beautiful picture of how we should care for each other. How when one hurts, we all hurt. How we should love one another and strengthen the weak and bear each other's burdens...
"...some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary." (1 Corinthians 12:22
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