OT:

[Guest guest]

When I first saw your Yahoo name, momofanton, I saw it as mom of a ton!!!! 

Instead of mom of Anton!!!!!  LOL!!  You can see where my schitoma is!!!

Irene in TX, mom of a TON!!  LOL!!

Re: my Wedding Belle

>

>

>

> Being Christi's mom has been quite a ride. There have been so

many " firsts "

> along the way, but her adult life has been great, and getting

greater. (Keep

>

> in mind we didn't know of her mosaicism until she was 25.)

>

> When I expressed serious doubts about my being able to take leave

of her,

> one

> friend pointed out that I have spent nearly 30 years creating

inclusive

> modifications to life, while maximizing her potential, so why stop

now? (was

> that

> you, Darlene? ? Kristy?) This is long:

>

> She lives in an apartment over the garage of the home we've lived

in since

> 1964. She has an Independent Living Support person who comes two

mornings a

> week

> for a few hours to assist her with shopping and cleaning. Another

ILS helper

>

> comes the other three mornings and works out with her at a nearby

gym.

> Tuesday afternoons, she bowls in a city special recreation league,

and

> Thursday

> afternoons she volunteers as an escort/messenger in our regional

trauma

> center

> hospital. Three afternoons she walks to her job as a courtesy clerk

at our

> neighborhood Safeway. In the years since she graduated from our

neighborhood

>

> high school (with a diploma after 5 years) she's had sewing

lessons, art

> classes, driving instruction, and spent six years attending junior

college

> classes (I

> went with her) taking everything from Dance to Drama to Spanish to

Sign

> Language and Golf. She was even a TA for two semesters in the drama

program.

>

> Weekends, she keeps up studies her old Spanish text, draws birthday

cards

> for

> everyone in her world, prints out too much stuff from online topics

(song

> lyrics,

> series scripts, and wedding sites) and watches DVDs of Lucy, 7th

Heaven,

> Full

> House, and Bewitched. Go figure.

>

> She met her fiance. Austin (his photo is in the McGuire/Chicoine

book, pages

>

> 70 and 100) from Dallas, at an NDSC 2003 convention when he was in

her

> Saturday Hip Hop workshop.. By Sunday's talent show, they watched

together

> with his

> arm around her. That commenced five years of alternating flights

back and

> forth

> between Texas and California to visit every other month, and hours

of cell

> phone conversations. During his Thanksgiving visit to our house, he

asked

> Christi's father for her hand in marriage. Last Thursday, in his

Dallas

> duplex,

> complete with candlelight and champagne, he asked her to marry him

and, when

> she

> exclaimed " Yes! " gave her a gorgeous ring which he earned by saving

for six

> months. There is so much to be creatively worked out, but she's

already

> pressuring me for a date and nagging, " Mom, we should be looking at

hotels! "

> Truth

> be told, I have already sketched a wedding dress...

>

> Christi has five married siblings ( " Now it's my turn to be the

bride! " ) and

> 24 nieces and nephews. Until recently, two of her brothers with

their 18

> kids, including the youngest who has Down syndrome, lived next door

(one has

>

> temporarily moved about an hour away). A sister (with five

children) and

> third

> brother live minutes away; a fourth brother lives in the UK with

his wife

> and

> toddler daughter. We had no reservations that she would be able to

stay

> right here

> and continue the life we so carefully built. But it seems yet

another

> transition needs to be carefully crafted.

>

> I am faced with relying on someone else to help create an entirely

new life.

>

> His parents are amazing to even want to take this on, but that's

how much

> they

> want their son to be happy! His mother is a fearless advocate, too,

and I

> both like and respect her very, very much. But it remains scary.

>

> I am open to any and all ideas from you, the biggest support group

in my

> world!

>

> Judie, mom to Christi, 29 , and lots more

>

> ************ **

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> fuel-efficient used cars.

> (http://autos.. aol.com/used? ncid=aolaut00050 000000007)

>

>