Waiting 30 years for “I LOVE YOU!”

My Christmas Story

This is my story for Christmas, the time of Love and our unending hopes for Peace on earth.

My son Jonathan (Down syndrome and a few other diagnoses) is physically very affectionate, and I’ve never questioned his love. But in nearly 30 years, he had never told me that he loves me.

I end every phone conversation with, “I love you, Buddy.” And his response is always, “Okay, fine. Bye!” If I venture a prompt like, “Can you say, ‘I love you, Mom’?” his answer is still set in concrete: “Okay, fine. Bye!”

But just a few months ago, we were talking about his upcoming visit to Disneyland. He of course loves our annual tradition of trekking to the Happiest Place on Earth, and gets excited in the planning of it. As he was talking about all the wonderful things we were going to do, he suddenly stopped and nearly shouted, “I–LOVE–YOU!”

I was stunned. “Did you say you love me?”

“YES!” he shouted. “We have Disney fun together!”

I don’t need to tell you that this made my day, my week, my year.  And it brought home the message that it’s never too late; we never know when our kids are going to send our hearts to the stars.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!