Today I took all of my old formal dresses out of my parents house and brought them to my house because my neighbor wants to look and see if any fit her for her formals this year. I had such great memories going through the dresses, but at the same time I was sad...size 4 sad!
I am not a size 4 anymore, not even close, but man when I was in 10th grade I was. I had the most BEAUTIFUL dress to wear to prom with Lincoln. Yes, I was 15 and he was 17 and we dated for two years, enjoying our relationship and growing in faith and all in all I looked hot when I went to prom with him in a size 4 dress!!!
I have great memorize from that night. We were up for about 36 hours straight. It was awesome. Neither of us had to be home at a certain time, just call our parents. I spent the night at his house with like 15 other friends after the dance and we didn't sleep because we had to head to King City Fair at 3:30 am to drop off trailers that we would be living in for the next 5 days of the fair!!!
I so remember my wears that day; FFA sweats, puffy jacket and Uggs that went oh so nice with the prom hair and make-up that I hadn't taken off or out yet. My hair was all pulled up and it was held with 36 hairpins. I will never forget that night. It was my second prom. I got to go my freshman year as well. God bless those days, the simple times and innocence that we had. 15 friends all at one house after prom, eating junk, drinking soda and being loud and parents just letting us enjoy each other.
Memories that make it okay that I am not a size 4 anymore, because I will soon have a husband at home who loves me even though I am no longer a size 4!!
Ever since my saddened post I have felt like our world is just about to crumble. I feel like morals and values and ethics are no longer in our world, our nation or in the people of our nation, but then my mom shared a little hope with me.
The article follows, but in honor of Kelly, a 4-Her that has Down's.....I hope that all of her success makes her feel as great as Anne feels!
Down syndrome student named homecoming queen with Down syndrome 'walking on air'
By LISA BLACK Chicago Tribune
Article Last Updated: 11/11/2008 01:46:55 AM PST
Now that she's royalty, Anne Jennings dances down the hallways, bursts into excited giggles and hugs her BFFs, or "best friends forever," without warning. Of course, she did pretty much all those things before being named homecoming queen at Chicago's Libertyville High School, but somehow, life has become more magical.
As a 17-year-old with Down syndrome, the senior "has been walking on air" since being crowned this month.
"Before, I was just plain me," said Jennings, selected by student vote out of 17 nominated girls. "When I was queen, it changed. It's amazing. Everyone loves me. I love me."
Her mother's videotape of the school assembly when her daughter was crowned says it all. After Jennings learned that she was among the top five members of the court, the video images began shaking. By the time the crown was placed on Jennings' head, the background noise boomed with the sounds of students cheering wildly.
By then, Ellen Jennings said, she had dissolved into tears, explaining why the video images bounce from floor to walls and back to her screaming, happy daughter.
"Amazing. Unbelievable," she said later. "You teach kids to do the right thing and treat people all like individuals, and look what happens."
She credits the warmth shown by classmates to the years that Jennings spent in regular education classrooms, where she was taught through eighth grade. Since entering high school, Jennings has spent more time in separate special-education classes, but she has maintained friendships from early childhood.
Megan Collins, 16, a junior, is among those who voted for Jennings.
"Once she was nominated, she was so happy and excited," Collins said. "I heard her say, 'I don't want people to vote for me out of pity' because of her challenges. I knew she would appreciate it more than the other girls."
Lauren Vogg, 14, a freshman, attended Adler Park Elementary School with Jennings. Today, Lauren and her friends volunteer for a program called Best Buddies that teams them with students with disabilities. She voted for Jennings.
"I think over the years, we have recognized her more as a high school student and not just a person with special needs," Lauren said.
Other Libertyville, Ill., students started a Facebook group, "Annie Jennings for Homecoming Queen," that accumulated more than 300 members — something Ellen Jennings didn't discover until after her daughter was crowned.
"I was just blown away," she said.
One person wrote on Facebook: "Annie has already won in my book! She is beautiful outside AND more importantly INSIDE."
At school, Jennings is still glowing, said security worker Mike Dolan.
Every day at 10:45 a.m., she returns from an off-campus work program, hops off a bus, enters the school and greets Dolan with a fist bump, which she calls "knuckles."
"She has been walking on air," Dolan said.
Jennings shares lunch, gym and keyboarding classes with the "normies," as she refers, with affection, to her mainstream peers. After graduating from Libertyville High next spring, she plans to enter Hawley Transition School in Mundelein, Ill., where she will learn independent-living skills such as how to manage money, use public transportation and keep a job.
She hopes to attend college after that, and marry her boyfriend, who took her to the homecoming dance, she said. She relives that weekend every time she looks at the pictures, with her smiling in a black dress and shawl.
"The paparazzi took a lot of pictures," said Jennings, a Special Olympics athlete and fan of the Jonas Brothers. "We ate out at Lino's. I had to give a speech."
The experience has inspired her classmates in the learning-resources classroom, too. "I thought it was really good for her to get it," said one of her BFFs, Laura Steen, 16, who voted for her.
For years Jennings has struggled with questions about what makes her different from others.
"She would ask, 'Why did God make me have Down syndrome?'" Ellen Jennings said, sitting near her daughter in the family's living room.
Anne, exasperation in her voice, piped up: "And she has no answers to give me."
Her mother paused, then replied.
"Your job is to figure out what your gifts are and what you have to contribute to the world," she said.
In some ways, being named homecoming queen has changed the way Anne thinks about Down syndrome, "that it's not the worst thing in the world that could happen to someone," Ellen Jennings said.
Her daughter agreed, saying that at first, high school was scary and sometimes boring.
"Now I know why," she said. "This was going to happen."
I am saddened by the election results today. I worry about my future, my children's future and about our country. I am very worried......
The only Prop. that went the way I wanted it to was Prop 8. Thank goodness that we will have the freedom to teach our children the truth and for them not to be "taught" about marriage by the school system. This is a very personal religious point for me.
Looking at the results that I can find, I will have no money left soon because our taxes will be raised by so much from all the other Props that passed. Props that I don't agree with, that I voted no one, but I still have to pay for them. Fun :-(!
What I must remember is that the Lord will provide and there is a reason for the results.
