Blessed With The Best

Today, and every day, I celebrate my friends. I am convinced that I have some of the best friends in the world and that I am “blessed with the best”. My friends are absolutely amazing. I know they will go on and create an impact wherever they are. Some will probably end up in D.C. and help formulate new policies to create lasting change, or open their own business, or run a nonprofit, or counsel people who are often marginalized; the list could go on and on. They are involved in so much and are making an impact in everything they do.
My best friend is involved in everything under the sun. She’s in college, involved in athletics (not just one or two sports, but FIVE), participates in extracurriculars, serves the community, and works. How she manages to stay on top of everything I have no idea. Anyways, we have been friends since 6th grade, and I know that we will be friends forever. Although we’ve gone to different schools for the last five years, our friendship has remained constant and has never once let me down. My best friend is someone I know I will always be able to count on to help make me smile and laugh, and I know she can say the same. We’re really good at doing this whole life thing together and finding joy in everything that we do, as you can probably tell from the photos below.
I post this to celebrate my amazing friends and best friend. Something I believe everyone should do all the time. I also post this because October is Down syndrome awareness month and my best friend just so happens to have Down syndrome. We shouldn’t need a month dedicated to celebrating the blessings that come along with those who have an extra chromosome because it should already be something that we continuously do. But since we do have this month, and some of you may not be lucky enough to know someone with Down syndrome, let alone be best friends, I wanted to share this with you in hopes that you may understand that people with Down syndrome are just people who happen to have an extra chromosome. People who are capable of being your best friend, capable of being a college student, capable of being an athlete, capable of being an employee, capable of being a volunteer, and capable of being whatever the heck they set their minds to. SO PLEASE LET THEM, just as people have let you and me.​