My little brother has Down Syndrome.
A week or so ago, my mom had signed him up so he could play the piano
and also read a short book for our Christmas Eve Service which was last night.
I wasn't quite sure how he would do in front of people. What if he balked?
But I didn't want to be the kind of person that doesn't have faith in a person,
especially when it's my own brother, just because the world says he's different.
At the service, when it was finally his turn, he followed my mom up to the piano,
squinching his eyes shut and walking backwards like the show-off he is.
When he played his song, I found out that he certainly is starting to learn music.
Sure, it was a really over-simplified and easy version of "Jingle Bells".
He could only handle playing one note at a time, and it wasn't perfect.
But he was so fun to watch; he did really well, and everyone loved it.
Then he read a child's version of the Christmas story into a microphone.
The pictures and words were up on the screen so we could all follow along.
He read as clearly as he could, and didn't seem to mind everyone listening.
You could tell that everybody was enjoying it immensely as they chuckled
at his obvious excitement and his herioc effort to pronounce the hard words.
He finished the story, and emphatically said, "The end!" as he jumped up.
When everyone applauded, he smiled in an adorable way, bowing about 5 times,
and then he did a hilarious cross between a cowboy and chicken victory dance.
I was so proud of him. <3