I love it when my son Tim leaves me messages on my voice mail. They almost always start out with, "Hi Mom. This is Timothy Robert Hubach. Your only son with Down syndrome." Just in case I forgot. Well, one night, Tim (my "only son with Down syndrome") and I tried to make a quick trip to WalMart to pick up a few items. Afterwards, I arrived home declaring, "Never again on a Friday night!" Now, it … [Read more...]
Sonic Boom!
"Want to go to Sonic, Mom?" Sounds like an innocuous enough question don't you think? But at our house, it has a deeper meaning. The question is usually asked as we're driving by the local Sonic on our way to some activity. And it's always asked by my younger son, Tim, with a wry smile and a glint in his eye. The Sonic Boom episode happened on one of our (many) trips back from Maine. Almost home … [Read more...]
Feeling Groovy
Yes, I was born in the sixties. I was in first grade (1966) when Simon and Garfunkel's hit "Feeling Groovy" arrived in record stores on their Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album. Little did I know how appropriate those words "feeling groovy" would be to my life nearly 50 years later. Not because I'm skipping around my back yard picking poppies and wearing organic cotton tunics (smile)… but … [Read more...]
Stringing Others Along: Kantian or Christian?
Once, when our boys were young, I remember sitting at a table with my husband talking to a very wise Christian friend who was a School Psychologist. We were discussing how to encourage some positive improvements in our son's behavior. He pulled out a piece of string and put it on the table. "How can you move this string?" he asked. Then he showed us, "Well, if you push it, it will move forward—but … [Read more...]
The Cart Before the Horse
Living in Lancaster County, PA—home of the Amish—we see a lot of buggies around here! So the phrase "don't put the cart before the horse" calls forth some pretty strong imagery in my mind. Instead of envisioning a horse prancing along the roadside, pulling a buggy behind it, I can vividly see how different it would be if that same horse was trying to push that same buggy down the street. It would … [Read more...]
Fortune Cookie Theology for Parents
I love Chinese Food. Truly I do. White rice or fried rice, hot and sour soup or egg drop, General Tso's chicken or beef with broccoli—it all works for me! But my favorite part of the meal is (by far) at the very end. The fortune cookie. Oh, I know, lots of people think they taste like cardboard and just throw them out. But I can't wait to open one and see what it says inside. Sometimes the sayings … [Read more...]