How she teaches just by being...

I had never heard of cri du chat when I was 14...I didn't really understand what chromosomes were.  I am not really even sure if I grasped anything more complex than who I was going to the next dance with.

My son is different because of his sister.

Because my son is different...so are his friends.

His buddy came over for dinner last night.  His sister just loves this friend of her brothers.  She is always smiling at him and laughing when he is around.  I am normally concerned because when she really likes someone, she leaves them no space.  She is in this poor teenagers face the entire time that he is at our house.  But he doesn't seem to mind.  And if she gets irritating, he is comfortable telling her so!

At dinner, we are chatting about all of our days and this friend of my son says that his teacher was giving a lecture today on abnormal chromosomes (which seems a little advanced to me for 14 year olds but they are in a Bio Tech Academy so I guess that explains it)...so he goes on to say that, "my teacher totally butchered Hailey's disorder"...I asked him what he meant and he says, "she called it cry do chat not cri du chat"...then he goes on to explain that he made sure that he let her know that she had butchered it and gave her my name in case she wanted to check with someone and that he knew what he was talking about!

I was so amazed at him...This teenager who is so understanding and nice to her...who is not uncomfortable when she touches him or laughs at him...who is comfortable enough around her to tell her to back off if she is driving him crazy...Who would stand up and explain to a high school teacher that she didn't pronounce it correctly and educate her.

I know that she has taught our family a new way of looking at things, compassion, understanding and a whole new meaning of love...What I had failed to see until then was how far her teaching really goes and how it fans out into our community...

It left me happy and smiling to know that this teenager is exceptional and we are lucky to know him...Also to know that this rare genetic disorder is being discussed and talked about in our community high school because of her...