Friendship & Inclusion

Freedom for Sarah Kate…and So Much More

May 21, 2013

Sarah Kate has done an admirable job over the years of integrating herself into Typical Kid Culture. She was the one who requested to join swim team and she was the one who asked to play softball. For all of our declarations that she needs to get used to being part of the typical world, Mr. [...]

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Left Behind

February 5, 2013

On Saturday morning, I took Sarah Kate to register for spring softball. It was a much different experience from a year ago when I signed her up for the first time. There was no anxiety about making the leap. There was no wondering if people would look at her funny. There wasn’t even my generalized [...]

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Why I’m Not a Fan of the Fed’s Ruling Regarding Equal Opportunity in Sports for Students With Disabilities

January 31, 2013

In last Friday’s Snippets, I invited you to suggest future topics for the blog. Reader Ali had a request: that I share how I feel about the new federal regulations mandating that schools allow kids with disabilities to participate in sports. I should have known better than to open that door on what was a spur of [...]

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Sometimes It Pays to Be Last

January 17, 2013

If you saw Tuesday’s post, then you figured out that we did, indeed, make it down to Disney for marathon weekend. Nathan hasn’t missed one yet (including when he was in the womb), but it was Sarah Kate’s first. I didn’t plan to take her, but her school had half-day off on Thursday and all [...]

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A Tale of Two Viral Sports Videos

December 13, 2012

In this past Sunday’s Sun-Beams, I linked to a viral video of a middle school wrestling match and asked you to tell me what you thought about it. Several variations of the story of the match had popped up in my Google Reader last week, and it was also featured on Good Morning America. In [...]

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Why I Didn’t Post Any Snippets Last Friday

November 1, 2012

Because we were at Walt Disney World! I’m sure you were all like….”ooo, mysterious”….and…”what could possibly prevent the weekly Seven Snippets from being published?” because I’m certain you all eagerly await the brilliance that is the Snippets Each. And Every. Week. Or not. But anywho…my friend Katie got married last Thursday at the Wedding Pavilion [...]

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Fighter: Softball Season Two

September 25, 2012

Unfortunately, Sarah Kate’s first game of fall softball season was rained out, so the season opener turned out to be a tournament this past Saturday. After a rocky first practice, Sarah Kate’s batting improved rapidly (or should I say re-emerged?) so we were confident she was ready for the new season. As the oldest and [...]

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Athleticism, Inspiration, and Apathy: NBC’s Neglect of the 2012 Paralympics

August 28, 2012

Earlier this month, we watched some of the world’s greatest athletes compete on the world’s largest stage in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The stories of inspiration were played and replayed – Manteo Mitchell, who ran half a lap on a broken leg during the team relay, Oscar Pistorius, who competed in track and [...]

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{VIDEO} What All the Fuss Is About: Sarah Kate at Bat

May 8, 2012

Softball season is almost over. Although my blog started out two years ago as an outlet for me that I shared with family and friends, it’s grown into something bigger than I ever anticipated, so most of the posts here are written with a larger audience than just my “in real life” circle. I’m deviating [...]

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A Beautiful Tapestry: Ash Wednesday Reflections

February 23, 2012

Wednesday afforded me a rare opportunity: to  go anywhere at all attend Mass without Nathan. Which is to say that I was able to attend Mass without a squirmy, noisy, frustratingly adorable attention hog who cheeses at all parishioners with whom he is able to gain eye contact. I’ve been hoping for awhile now that the [...]

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