Last month Josh turned 21 to very little fanfare. We had a family dinner with my mother and my sister's family. Josh and his dad shared a birthday cake as is our custom since their birthdays are 8 days apart in August.
It's strange to think that if he were a typically developing young man, he might be attending college or be in the military. He would probably be driving and figuring out his relationship with alcohol. He would be able to vote, gamble and earn a pilot's license. Heck, in this country, he could even get a concealed weapon license (!) or adopt a child (!)
But most of those things are out of reach for my son and probably will be for his whole life. Instead, Josh is diligently working on his tasks at his job at the Veterans Administration building such as breaking down cardboard boxes, wiping down tables and filling up salt and pepper shakers. He enjoys his routine of going to his class at our school districts post-secondary classroom and doing his daily neighborhood walk. We are still working on chores such as emptying the dishwasher and putting his clean laundry away.
Josh has a simple, small life but, I hope, a very good one. He has people who know him and love him. There are people who are helping him to learn new things. He is a part of several communities in ways that are meaningful to him. He enjoys different parts of God's creation such as water, the wind, music and many different types of foods. He cries sometimes, yells sometimes, and laughs a lot.
Josh is not like most 21 year olds but he is living a life full of his own kind of meaning and blessing. I'm so proud of how far he has come and I am confident that he will continue to grow as he walks further into his young adulthood.
