There are some things in life that can just brighten your day no matter what mood you're in. I experience one of those things today. During set-up this morning, a group of special needs girls walked through the gym in front of my soundboard table to go do their daily physio class. At first, I didn't think too much of it .. until one of the girls with down syndrome looked at me, waved and smiled. I said hi to her and asked her what her name was. She couldn't really pronounce it properly but her EA told me her name was Natalie. When I said "Hi Natalie, it's nice to meet you", she opened her arms and threw them around my neck. She was so excited that I had taken a minute out of my day to know her by name. A few minutes later, she entered the room again, this time accompanied by the rest of her class and they took a seat on the bench beside me. Natalie came over again and hugged me, sparking the interest of a few of the other girls. I walked over and asked the other girls their names, receiving a few more hugs as I did so. One girl named Manami caught my eye. She was wearing braces on both of her knees, one on her wrist, and she was sitting in a wheelchair. I sat down beside her and we bonded over the colour pink being our favourite colour. I think she's my new best friend. It was hard to pry myself away from her to go do the show, but she sat at the back and watched. Over lunch I sat with her and Natalie again and even though they both couldn't speak, I had a really good time with them! It made me so happy to just spend time with them and see the smiles on their faces!
When we left the school, we headed to the local grocery store to buy snacks for our bus ride, and on the counter as we're paying we saw a glass jar with a picture of Manami on the side of it. It read: Please help Manami - We are trying to raise money to send Manami overseas in order to have stem cell treatment. I couldn't believe my eyes. This was the girl I had just met, the girl who made my day and here was an opportunity for me to give back to her! I dropped a few bills in the jar and wrote a note that I put in along with it. I was amazed that there were so little donations in the jar and I started brainstorming ways I could help them out. Maybe start a facebook group to raise funds for her and send them to her? I really feel compelled to do something ... This girl was amazing. She had so many things to complain about in life and yet the smile never faded off her face ... That's how I want to live. :)

I'm going to try to get ahold of her educational assistant and ask if there's any way I could fundraise some money for her. If anyone feels compelled to donate, feel free to contact me by email!
ckburmaster@hotmail.ca