It’s Spring Equinox! And beautiful images of sunshine and lovely ocean with blooming flowers fill my head, make me smile.Â
 It’s Naw Ruz! That is, New Year with the religion I was raised with, the Baha’i Faith. I think of drumming and music and laughter and celebration and joy and again, I smile. Â
It’s World Down Syndrome Day! When I think this, my thoughts take a turn and become a juxtaposition of joy and pain.
Joy: community, pure love, bright children, a celebration of a unique tribe of people that my daughter belongs to.Â
Pain: a world that… sigh. Just doesn’t seem to value this tribe the way that we, people with daily interaction with them, do. And it hurts. Because I so want to reach right into people’s hearts and shake them up and say, GET THIS: my daughter isn’t who you think she is. You think she’s retarded, that her life somehow has less of a value – and nothing – NOTHING could be further from the truth.
She is Moxie.Â
And isn’t she lovely?
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Thank you for joining us in this day, celebrating our community, our loved ones. All that they are, can be and will be.
Thank you.
I look forward to another 100 years of celebrating – and more!
Meriah Nichols is a counselor. Solo mom to 3 (one with Down syndrome, one on the spectrum). Deaf, and neurodiverse herself, she’s a gardening nerd who loves cats, Star Trek, and takes her coffee hot and black.
