Let me share a little bit about them, first these people are special in the way most people wouldn't care to deal with, they were special needs adults.
Melanie...
She was a firecracker, very opinionated and loud but a gentle soul on the inside. When I first met Melanie at the center all she did was rip paper out of phone books, for several hours day. She was quiet unless provoked and seemed to not enjoy her days.
When I got Melanie into my group I debated whether or not I could handle her or even if she would like me. Over 4 years me and Melanie became friends, yes friends she would tell me in her honest opinion in what she thought about what I was wearing, would hug me if I was sad, make jokes to make me laugh. I got her to stop ripping phone books and into helping me with tasks that she was never expected to be able to do, Melanie was born with water on the brain.... And sadly passed away due to complications with a surgery to clear a blocked shunt. I remember at her her funeral her mother came up to me out of everyone and said "thank you for giving my daughter the chance to feel like she belonged and she was normal" in reality her daughter gave me the patience I have towards people who sometimes don't think before they speak, or to the person who is a bit slower in front of me, Melanie always treated me with respect and compassion as I did her, I think of her often and hope she knows she will always be a friend of mine, the sweet angel.
Mark.....
He was the the person I was hired to work with one -on-one. It was something I never had done I dove in head first, mark was a charmer, could pretty much get you to do anything with his eyes, they were big and brown, you could really look in them and see into his soul, He couldn't move on his own or speak, but me and him clicked on a level most people could never understand, Like Melanie when i first met mark his former workers never did anything to make him feel like he belonged they stayed at the center all the time inside....imagine spending all your time indoors, when your going to a place that is supposed to provide you with what we all call "normal lives." Well I tell you that boy when he got out into the world, you knew it meant a lot to him, to just lay on the grass on a summers day not in his wheelchair, or to do hand or hand painting... the smile on his face told me this is what he wanted in his life. Mark became like a best friend even though he could never verbally tell me anything I knew just by the looks on his face whether it was concern, happiness or sadness, how his face would light up when i would come visit him in the hospital and spend hours just chilling changing the tv channel for him, you know your are special to someone when you are the only one that can get them to come out of an anxiety attack. I knew Mark wouldn't live forever, and when he passed I just knew, no one had to tell me. He left me with a great joy of knowing him, giving me the courage to understand him and not judge those different from me because we are all struggling with our own problems, accepting everyone for who they were. That no matter how bad life seems, there is always someone there to listen. I miss him terribly but I know he is watching from above there is no way someone that good could stay on earth forever.
Melanie and Mark, thank you so much for being brought into my life, the gifts you gave me will stay with me forever and will be passed on to my little one, These friends with all their difficulties accepted me into their lives a life where people come and go when things get to tough and they are not taken seriously because of their disabilities. I took them seriously why because they are people just like me with feelings, and emotions just as complicated as the rest of us, I am so glad I did.
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