Monday, December 25, 2023
A quiet day, peaceful, actually. I wasn’t haunted by loneliness. I saw no one except those I ran into on my walks until I joined Judy and her family for dessert. It was a lovely visit. It was two grandparents, a great aunt, Judy and Howard’s friend, two parents, and their three young children. This is a true extended family; everyone lives on the family compound, two houses between which the children move back and forth freely.
At least two of the children move back and forth freely. A third is severely disabled, a functional quadriplegic who has zero communication skills. He suffers from a mutation known as FoxG1. This child is one of the worst cases. Those who spend a lot of time with him see patterns in his responses. No one knows what goes on in his mind. Since he is in constant motion, his arms, legs, and head moving much like a newborn’s, it is hard to know what movements a response to a stimulus are. There’s only one thing for sure: he’s loved.
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