The Necessary Untethering: Learning to Let Go as Our Children Grow Up
In the past two weeks, William turned 18, applied for his first credit card, and registered for a language immersion program in Spain that starts in January. (He’s doing a…
Delta Surprises Penny Before Her First Solo Flight
Independence doesn’t mean doing everything alone. It means having the support you need to take the next step. Penny, our daughter with Down syndrome, prepared for her first solo flight…
Image by Ant Armada from Pexels
Advice for Penny’s First Solo Flight: A Network of Care in the Skies
Our daughter Penny is 20 years old and has Down syndrome. I cannot believe the outpouring of support, encouragement, and advice we received from far and wide—including multiple Delta executives…
Image courtesy of Ryan Thomas • Pexels • Canva Pro
How Disability Changes the Way We See One Another: Interdependence and the Ideal Human
“For blind travelers, it’s like reading a book; for sighted ones, it’s more like watching a film.” I listened to an episode of The Daily over the weekend where Michael Barbaro interviews…
You Are Needed: Disability, Interdependence, and the Body of Christ
You are needed. You are needy. We need each other. I got to share those words on Sunday morning for our final gathering at a Laity Lodge retreat, and they are still…
Christmas and the Hospitality of Need with Kevan Chandler
REIMAGINING THE GOOD LIFE PODCAST S9 E6 — In a season of parties and entertaining, it’s good to remember that hospitality means something very different—welcoming the stranger and caring for…
The Hospitality of Need: Disability and Interdependence with Kevan Chandler
TAKE THE NEXT STEP PODCAST Many of us don't want to ask for help, but what if being needful isn’t weakness but a doorway to connection, friendship, and belonging? Kevan…
Baking at Her Own Pace
Penny wants to work on cooking and baking skills this year. Usually, we are rushing around, so it is hard to let her work at her own pace. But over…
Let’s have this conversation together.
These days, my writing and speaking are drawn to interdependence—the beauty of life together, of reciprocal relationships of love and care. Often, these relationships of mutuality (or, as Rosemarie Garland-Thomson called them, complementarity1) don’t just…
Is Independence the Goal?
Every so often I get asked, “Do you think Penny will live independently?” I’ve started answering that question about my daughter who has Down syndrome by saying, “I never want…
