To Elmo, My Son With Down Syndrome's First Friend
Dear Elmo,
Hey there Elmo. I know it is weird hearing from a grown up. I know I don’t really fit your demographic. But OMG I so get the phenomenon of you. Even if I didn’t have kids, I’d be obsessed with your infectious giggle, your cute factor, high pitched inquisitiveness and all that furry redness that is you. You are quite adorable as I am sure you know.
But you are so much more.
To my little son who has Down syndrome, you are his comfort and his friend. He constantly begs to see you on television and sleeps with two small versions of you. We’ve seen you live twice in his 2.5 short years and he now totes a lunch box to school with your charming, dapper, mug on it.
As his mommy, it is my honor to have you strewn about our lives. Because, not only are you fun and so incredibly loved, but you are a decent little monster. I more than catch glimpses of your voice of kindness, sharing and acceptance. I thank my lucky stars for them.
I hope Judah expects nothing less from all the friends he makes in life. He deserves all the qualities that you are in a friend!
My guess, Elmo, is that he may encounter adversity. He may meet strife in acquiring people… and he may even be looked at as different.
I hope he always remembers you as the standard to judge a friend by.
May he always remember his first friend would unconditionally dole out endearments and root for him with abandoned abundance. May he never forget how his first friend put snuggles before sentences, put love before how you look, and appreciated the deliciousness of difference.
Elmo, you are a game changer. You are what people should be like in this world.
I think the ones who really know you, know that; they know you are more than the monster who likes to be tickled. You are the monster who likes to be tickled because you love to be loved and you love to love. You should be our teachers, our babysitters and dare I say, our president (unfortunately, you will always be perpetually 3 years old — I know that because I’m a super-fan — so you can’t legally run). But, you can keep doing you my little red hero; you have this whole thing figured out!
Thank you for being our friend.
With Love,
Judah’s Mommy
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Beth Craver is the mommy of three boys and the lucky wife of one. She and her husband, Bobby, have been married for 7 years and started their family late. They had their son, Calvin, at the age of 38 and then two and a half years later, Judah came into their world on November 30, 2014. Unbeknownst to them, Judah had Down syndrome, and Beth often shares the shift in perspective his diagnosis brings her. Augie surprised her two years later adding even more magic into the mix
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