The Irish Jig & Celebrating with High-Fives!

Dancing at an Irish Pub (scroll down for the video!)

Rolling down a hill (scroll to next post to see video)

Will & his Cookie in the vineyard in GA

Saturday night, in Georgia, my parents treated us to a fun dinner at a real Irish pub... you know, to honor our Irish roots & all. (I'm quite the mix I believe but there's some Irish in me.)

The pub was actually built in Ireland & brought to GA in pieces to be rebuilt. Very authentic!
After our dinner of fish & chips, we went for a nature walk to wear a certain someone out a bit & then returned to the pub for live music- performed by an Irish couple- complete with a kilt.
One of the things I love most about Will is his gregarious personality! He has never met a stranger! In fact, at DFW last week, as we got off the skylink at our terminal, about 20 people on the tram bus yelled, "bye, Will!" It was hilarious! He meets people, gives high fives, shakes hands, flirts, & performs his routine of tricks. He is definitely not shy or clingy to me. R & I are consistently amazed at his outgoing nature- we're such introverts & Will is, most definitely, an extrovert. Cookie predicts he'll be mayor of Dallas someday.
Maybe he'll be an entertainer...
Anyway, back to the pub.
Will headed straight to the middle of the restaurant, front & center, & did his Irish jig followed by lots of spinning. He often does a little Irish jig in the bathtub too - which I can't really film & post here since he's naked and all.
Immediately following his spinning & dancing, he gave every single person in that portion of the pub a high five. I was in tears I was laughing so hard as he "worked the room." Seriously, he went to every patron at every table & every server he could find & high fived them. Then, he returned for more dancing. (I filmed it but managed to miss recording all the high-fives.)
One of the first people he high -fived following his performance was a woman who was bound to a sort of bed/board thing. We had no idea what her story was but I had watched her & her husband earlier in the evening & I was so impressed by what was clearly a testimony to servanthood in marriage. She just beamed as she carefully lifted her hand to high- five Will.
Later, she & my mom talked as we were leaving the restaurant because she wanted her picture taken with Will. I took him back to her &, being the little flirt that he is, he obliged.
This precious woman was celebrating her anniversary that night. Two years ago, following her wedding, the couple traveled to Ireland for their honeymoon. A few weeks later, she was diagnosed with the worst case of arthritis doctors at the Mayo clinic had ever seen. She is completely bedridden as it is extremely painful to move at all.
And she raised her hand to high- five my Sweet Will, twice!
The night we met her was her first night out in public in 2 years- it is simply too difficult & painful for her & she knows people are looking at her as she is strapped to a big board/bed thing.
She said that seeing Will - who has such obvious physical differences and challenges, who is noticed & labeled as "different" by people everywhere he goes - & yet dances with such abandon & then high-fives with everyone in the room - inspired her to not be so afraid of being in public.
Will doesn't know this. All he saw was a woman he needed to high five. He saw a woman in a beautiful dress with long hair whom he needed to flirt with. He didn't notice the way arthritis has changed the way her hands are formed.
He didn't view his heavy zancos as limiting to his dancing abilities. He didn't see his hands as something to be ashamed of - instead, he believes everyone should touch & wants to touch his hands in a high-five, even if they are peacefully trying to finish their dinner, for example.
It's humbling to be his mom.
It's my honor to be his mom.
I love that God has choosen me to be a part of a story that can encourage someone else - even as she inspired me as I watched her clearly get dressed up for her husband, go out to eat with him despite great personal challenges and her own self-consiousness, and allow him to feed her every single bite.

I read a quote last night in Runner's World by Mark Parent of "The Newbie Chronicles" that I think applies perfectly to my Will:

When the task is hard and the progress is slow, you celebrate the small things. When the task is nearly impossible and the progress is glacial, there are no small things and you celebrate all the time- if you want to keep going, you HIGH-FIVE anything and everything that you can remotely trace back to your efforts.

In gymnastics yesterday, Will, naturally, greeted each child with a high-five as they arrived for class. One little boy refused to high-five him & shook his hands in the air yelling "no." Now, perhaps, this child was just being a toot two and a half year old. However, it was the first time I saw someone refuse to touch my child's hands. I wanted to cry but I couldn't with Will there. I wanted to leave but knew it was important to stay. Will clung to me a few minutes & wanted to sit in my lap. And then, bless my sweet child, he became determined to get a high-five from that kid throughout class. He never did yesterday but we're not through with gymnastics yet.

We taught Will high-fives as a way to "break the ice" with people regarding his hands. I belive, today, that Will gives high-five because he lives a life of celebration. There are no small things for Will. He faces challenges every single day. But, you know what? We get to celebrate every single day of his life! Sure, we face frustrations, tiredness, & set-backs. And, I most definitely do not celebrate when I'm watching my child suffer. But, those moments and days make the celebrations so much sweeter.

It's a good way to live.

Enjoy the dancing & give some high-fives today in celebration!!!
(ps- don't forget to scroll down all the way to the bottom of the blog & hit pause on the music playlist. I wouldn't want you to miss out on hearing the Irish songs!)