For the Heart: Special Olympics Dinner

Last Thursday, I volunteered to help at the SpecialOlympicsofUtahHallofFameGalaDinnerandLiveAuction. (Couldn’t say all of that in one breath if I tried to include the spaces.) This event confirmed my theory that people with “special needs” are really those with “special hearts & special blessings.” It seems like God uses them to remind us “normal people” just how much we miss out on by being so “smart.”

I said, “Hi! How are you?”

The evening began at the coat check where I met “Lindsey.” (She has Down’s Syndrome.)

She replied, “I’(m) fine, thank you.”

“Ooh! I see you have a medal [around your neck].”

“Yesth. It’s for volleyball. I p(l)ay volleyball.”

“Really? Are you pretty good at it?”

“Yesth, I am.” (Some people can get away with “bragging.”)

Later on, during the evening’s program, the brother/boyfriend of Lindsey happened to be sitting near where I was standing. He caught my eye and gave a BIG smile! Then, he leaned back and pulled out his THREE medals from under his suit jacket and spre-e-e-ad them out. With a look at them and a look toward me, I could see that he was SO proud of his accomplishments. The smile on his face was priceless!

I winked and gave him a big thumbs-up. And I couldn’t help a huge smile myself.

Shortly after that, I ended up sitting right behind him. He looked back with a big grin and passed his cell phone back to me. On the text screen, he had typed this:

Finally, this video was played for the audience. It speaks for itself.

(If you can't see it, go to www.youtube.com and search "Downs Syndrome Fantastic."