Stories of Wil: This is how we teen

Wil and Manny with “potato chip lips.”

Wil is a 13-year-old boy with Down syndrome. He is the little brother, by 20 months, to twin sisters, Katherine and Elizabeth. Wil’s mom, Christie, knew very little about Down syndrome when Wil was diagnosed shortly after his birth. It didn’t take long for Christie to realize how enriching life with Down syndrome is. Embracing this newfound life, Christie was compelled to share her experiences with Wil. Christie’s desire, in sharing these stories, is to promote an awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the amazing capabilities of individuals with Down syndrome.

Submitted by Christie Taylor

As Wil has gotten older, it’s clear he needs closer friends with Down syndrome. He has wonderful friends at school who love and support him fully. As the gap in abilities with his typical peers grows and social lives expand, Wil also needs to cultivate friendships with those whose abilities better match his.

Manny’s family lives in a neighboring town, so his mother, Laura, reached out to get our boys together. Manny will be entering 9th grade, and Wil 8th.

When Manny arrived at our house, it was our second get-together. We had met at local lake the previous week and a friendship was formed. Though both Manny and Wil had talked of this second get-together for days, when Manny entered our house he went to the couch and Wil retreated to his bedroom. They were overwhelmed.

I took a big sigh of relief. Why? Because this was normal behavior — not for just one of them, but for both of them.

I coaxed Wil out of his room, and Laura coaxed Manny to show Wil the toys he brought. Manny won Wil’s heart by bringing him a can of Sprite to drink with lunch.

The two laughed and were silly with lunch, and that broke the ice. But after lunch, they separated again. Even this separation was refreshing to me as it’s usually Wil I’m coaxing while others wait. This day, we were all gloriously on the same page, even if Manny and Wil were apart. Manny’s older sister, Grace, was there, and she kept the conversation going engaging both Wil and Manny. Like Katherine and Elizabeth (Wil’s 15-year-old twin sisters, who were at a birthday party), this is Grace’s normal. And she handles it, well, with grace.

Laura suggested a movie to start the ball rolling again. And roll the ball we did — Manny chose Hotel  Transylvania 3 and we played a game where we sat on the floor and rolled the ball to each other. When the music in the movie played, that was the kryptonite to whatever was holding them back. Manny and Wil broke out their dance moves. Then Wil brought out his karaoke player and jammed to Luke Bryan while Manny jammed on the Bluetooth mic he brought from home.

After the jam session, we headed outside to the driveway to ride bikes. Manny tried Wil’s recumbent bike while Wil rode his bike with training wheels. The handles on the recumbent bike are what steer it. Manny is used to using an elliptical machine, so he was pumping the handles back and forth zig zagging around. I thought that was a smart technique. With a few more tries, he figured it out and was zooming around, even on the grass!

Then I took Manny on the 4-wheeler. He “woo-hoo’d” the entire time. The guy has a need for speed!

Soon it was time for them to go, and we said our goodbyes until next time. I talked to my sister that evening, and told her how great it is to have a get-together where the kids can meet on common ground. It’s something you just don’t take for granted.

Our day was full of stops, starts, zig-zags, and full speeds ahead — all the while, remaining gloriously in sync. This is how we teen.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.