Why March 21?

The date of March 21 has been chosen as World Down Syndrome Day because people who have Down Syndrome have 3 copies of the 21st chromosome. 3/21

WDSD was first observed in 2006 by many countries around the world and in December 2011 the United Nations officially declared March 21 as WDSD.

Beth was born in 1986 so we've spent most of her life not celebrating WDSD so when it comes around I'm kind of at a loss of what to do. Should we do anything? 

There's merchanise you can buy, there's the Lots of Socks campaign (which, socks have nothing to do with Down Syndrome, it's just a fun way to bring awareness to it) where you're supposed to donate socks to a shelter, wear fun, silly socks for the day etc. There's a WDSD Conference at the UN Headquarters in New York... 

But tomorrow for us will look like this: Chuck and I will go to work, Beth will sleep in, then she'll wake up slowly and come upstairs to have some breakfast. Usually a bowl of cheerios and a banana. Or maybe a bagel and cream cheese.

Then she'll do some chores around the house, take a shower, do her laundry and then come sit at the kitchen table when I get home from work.

I'll ask her about her day and she'll tell me what kind of movies she watched, what songs she danced to and if she finished all of her laundry. 

I'll start dinner and when it's ready, she'll fill her plate and head back downstairs to watch some TV.

She stays up later than we do and usually goes to bed at... well, actually I don't know what time she goes to bed because I'm already asleep!

She sets her alarm if she needs to, then puts on her Cpap mask and falls asleep.

A pretty typical life.

 

Beth and Sharaya

 

 Beth and Diana

 So what are you going to do on March 21?