Merry Christmas!

Every year Arc of Amador has a wonderful luncheon during the holidays.  Our family and friends are invited to come and join us to enjoy lunch and delicious desserts.  To cap off the event we have our annual musical performance.  Last year was the "Twelve Days of Christmas".  It was hilarious. 
This year, I had the chance to participate (there are a lot of us so we can't all put on our performance hats).  We performed one of my favorite Christmas songs "Mele Kalikimaka".  I love all things Hawaiian.  My friend Chris and I had the lead roles of playing the rattlers.  Chris' favorite thing is Elvis and he added some Elvis flare to the performance.  See the bottom of this post for the super awesome video.  We had a LOT of fun and we had everyone rolling with laughter.

And I also had to share a couple of photos of my super style.    I was very festive today.

 Without the hat...

or with the hat?

What I Was Doing 22 Years Ago Today

I know exactly what I was doing on this day 22 years ago.  I had made up my mind that I was going to pack my bags and go to my grandparent's house in Pennsylvania.

Surely I had some reason for doing this, you say to yourself.  Well, of course I did!  We lived in the San Francisco Bay Area when I was growing up and on October 17th nature decided to do what it does best in California.  The ground started to shake, rattle, and roll.  It was the beginning of the Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 magnitude, yikes!)  I was in our living room watching TV when it all started.  I should also note that my Dad's hunting successes adorned the living room wall.  When the shaking started it didn't take long for those antlers to come flying off - miraculously I did not get impaled!  Needless to say, I didn't want to have anything to do with California and it's crummy earthquakes anymore!  Pennsylvania would do the trick! 

Well, Mom and Dad really wanted me to stay and live with them, so I decided to make them happy.  So, that's what I was doing 22 years ago today.

Cannonball Run Car Show and Independence Day Parade - July 2011

Being the hot rod fans our family is, my parents and their friends started an annual car show about 19 years ago.  The Cannonball Run Car Show is always around the 4th of July and it's a blast.  It's even been recognized as one of the best small town car shows in a national hot rod magazine.  This was a stellar year seeing old friends and making new ones, having the Fresno Pandraggers back and having new cars to look at...it couldn't have been more fun.

The car show also coincides with the town's Independence Day Parade.  Our town is so small that the parade actually makes two trips around the town to make it last a bit longer.  This year was so exciting because I was the Grand Marshal of the parade!  Dad drove me and our friend Toby in the hot rod.  I really had such a great time!

Me as Grand Marshal of the town parade



My friends Arnett and John



The Winner of "Pat's Pick" Award

Riding the cooler-mobile

  

My friend Mario

John S's '32 5-window

Push America 2011

Push America is an awesome organization.  Out of Push came the Journey of Hope which is an annual fundraising event which men from universities all over the country cycle across the nation to raise money and awareness for people with disabilities.  These guys are all members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.  During the summer they travel either from San Francisco or Seattle where both teams end up in Washington D.C.  They cover 32 states and over 12,000 miles raising up to $500,000 a year.

 

Lunch time!

And each year the team comes and stops off at Arc of Amador and Calaveras where they are greeted with my friendly face and the faces of my friends and colleagues.  We treat these guys to a great lunch and they treat us with their friendliness and teach us about their bikes and their ride.  This year they came through on June 14th.  We all look forward to their visit next year!

Me showing off my sweet ride to the guys

What a great bunch of guys!  Check out their website at Push America - Journey of Hope and here is their fraternity link at Pi Kappa Phi.  Both worth a look.

Hot Rods Are How I Roll



Me and Pop's Car



One of the things I love to do is going to car shows with my parents.  My Dad has owned hot rods for most of my life.  I have the great benefit of going along for the ride.  Right now we have a '32 Ford Roadster that has a rumble seat.  Either I ride shotgun or in the back.  In any event, people turn their heads and I AM COOL. 

The great thing about car shows is that you develop great friendships with people.  People and their cars make the rounds through the car show circuit and everyone is wonderfully friendly.  As a result, I have had the benefit of exercising my independence.  

It's not uncommon for me to take off on my own for hours at a time and talk to people about their cars, buy a soda, or haggle for a t-shirt.  It doesn't matter if it's a 50 car or a 2,000 car, car show.  I roll on my own.  People know me and I know them so I feel comfortable and my parents do too.  I'm very popular at shows and people keep an eye out for me.  It must be my good looks. Anyways, the great thing is that people become comfortable with Downs.  I make a great ambassador.

So, more about the cars, the rumble seat is getting a little old for me so I'm on the lookout for something with a little more leg room.  I need to start haggling for a nice '40 sedan...preferably a convertible.  This is how I want to roll.  :)

Let Me Introduce Myself

My name is Patrick and I'm a pretty special guy. 

Probably the first thing that people notice about me is that I have Down syndrome.  It doesn't define me, it's just something I have.  I don't suffer from it, I thrive with it.  I have also been diagnosed as being legally deaf, since the bones in my ears didn't develop normally.  Much to my family's and doctor's surprises, I read lips as I grew up (I wasn't diagnosed as being deaf until I was a teen).  My speech is okay, but the deafness doesn't help - however, I have been known to say some very funny things.

The most important things you should know about me is that I have a mom and dad, a brother, a sister, a sister-in-law, two nieces, and a huge family.  I am a person.  I am loved, and I give love.  I can be hurt, but I don't hurt others.  I am different, but not less.

I am 33 years old and was born on April Fools Day.  So, that means I'll be 34 very soon.  So, in honor of my upcomiong birthday, here is a list of my favorite things:

• Birthdays, of course.  I celebrate weeks...even months in advance
• Hot rods - my Dad has a '32 roadster
• Cooking class at ARC
• Working at my job
• My border collie, Deuce
• Anything having to do with Hawaii - which I call "Aloha"
• Taking lots and lots of photos
• Being independent as much as possible



Me when I was a little guy