Day 5 for DownS/ Family Friday

Its true...everyone needs someone. I have often thought of what would happen to lil man should I lay down to dust.

I look around and see what a healing factor he has been to my family. I have had family members we havent seen in person for over 15 years come from across the country, see him and fall in love...and then keep regular contact with us. I have seen relationships mended just because he laughed. I have seen bitterness melt. Everyone needs someone. We all need him.

My quandry has been what to do for him in my demise. I know he will need love and support for the rest of his life. May it be a gentle and happy one...but before today I had not had anyone step forward and talk with me about it.

Oh I dropped hints...you know. Saying "whoever does this will..." and "when the time comes he'll need...". Finally after almost a year and a half, out of the blue my baby sister calls. I guess you can call her 'baby sister'. She is seven years younger than I am. Her words warmed me and made my eyes tear up. She talked about family, togetherness and how stable her life is. And then she said it. She said "If anything ever happens to you, we want you to consider letting us raise and take care of Artie." My heart skipped a beat and I stopped breathing for a minute.

I paused a moment. wondering if she understood the magnitude of that statement. She continued saying something like "oh we have already talked about adding an apartment on to the house for him so he can live independently. He will never do without anything that it is in my power to give him."
My sister is not a woman who commits lightly. She is a tower of strength and those who stand beside her are fortified by her presence. She is funny, kind hearted, gentle and generous to a fault. She is a people person and no matter where she goes her social skills are amazing. She is at home in a board room, leading a company to profit margins off the chart or in the kitchen, making dumplings.
Which I might add at this point are a personal favorite of Artie, the lil man who has feeding aversions. I swear, this child who wont eat anything ATE some of her dumpling gravy and loved it! Reason enough that he should be her shadow.

I could think of no better advocate for him should I not be there.

Tonight before I put him to bed, I lay down with him and cuddled him. I told him about the future and all the wonderful things he could do if he wanted to. And then I told him about Aunt Sandra and how much she loved him. He watched me talk and played with the collar of my blouse. When I finished he was watching my eyes, laying calmly on my arm. I kissed him and put him in his bed. He took a long sigh and got into his favorite postion on his tummy. Good night Artie! We will all sleep better tonight! We have someone that needs us.