Saturday, March 7, 2009

A Special Talent Show

This must be the seasons for talent shows! One of my favorite activities all year is attending the special needs talent show. The folks who perform rock! My favorite person to watch is my special friend, Jennifer. She always sings a beautiful song. This year, she sang "I Have A Dream" from Mamma Mia (and therefore maybe ABBA?). She brought the house down in front of 300 people! There are usually about 30 special needs people who perform. Most of them sing and dance and, really, there are some hilarious moments!!! The dancing is out of control cool! I really wish I could have some of their moves!!!
It reminds me of a time in college. I went to a few special needs dances. Of course, I am a crazy dancer. This guy who didn't have special needs came up to me on a slow song and asked me to dance (aargh!). I reluctantly agreed. When we were dancing, he said he was trying to decide if I had special needs or not all night because of the way I was dancing. But then he decided that even though I was crazy, no one with special needs could have as much rhythm as me and knew I was just there to assist with these great people! Oh the joy!

As I look back over my life, I am so grateful for my opportunity to work with, learn from and love people with disabilities! I am a more compassionate, loving, caring person because of them. From being a special needs mutual friend when I was in high school to teaching a whole bunch of silly kids for a job to working on vocational and living skills with adults for my Master's, my life is greatly enriched because of these wonderful people! I hope my kids will learn to love these people as much as I do.

If you ever get the chance to attend Special Needs Mutual, a dance, a talent show or some other activity with people with disabilities, do it!!! You will have a blast!

6 comments:

Kristina P. said...

What a great idea for a talent show!

Tara Bergsjo said...

That is so cool. My dad and step mom were in charge of the special needs mutual and they loved it. They grew some wonderful friendships there. You are so awesome!

Jen said...

That does look like fun! You are so good about updating your blog. It's always fun to read about what you are doing :)

Katey said...

You have a special gift Michelle! I think you are great with those with special needs and it's great that they have a special place in your heart. You're awesome!

Tina said...

I remember attending a Special Needs talent show back home with my parents. A group performed to "Jake the Peg" - It was hilariously awesome... and actually motivated my dad to recreate it at a future family reunion. Good memories!

the Kates said...

I LOVE special needs talent shows- they're the BEST!