A Lot of Buddy, Not Much Walk

If you’re expecting a tale of how inspiring and uplifting our local Buddy Walk was, you’re reading the wrong blog.

We didn’t field a big team this year – just our family foursome plus one of Sarah Kate’s therapists (yep, you read that right…) We don’t have a Buddy Walk in our county, only over in Mobile County across the bay, so we don’t know a lot of the families and the ones we do know we tend to run into, you know, over here.

It’s been something of a joke between Mr. Andi and I that the T-shirts always seem like they were chosen based on a Skittles candy drawing. We’ve had bright, sunny yellow and fluorescent green, and even the Research Down Syndrome group got into the act this past year by making both the RDS runner and spectator shirts orange.

As we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed right away that this year’s shirt would not disappoint. I present to you the 2013 Down Syndrome Society of Mobile County Buddy Walk shirt:

Yes, he’s totally cheesing at the ladies. He also waved.

After a few groans from the oh-so-mature adults in the front seat of the wagon, we checked in and donned our four green shirts. Much as we grumbled about the shirt color, we couldn’t very well pull a Kramer lest we be ostracized.

The day started like they usually do – kids riding the “train” and climbing the jump-jump slide and playing the various carnival games that are meant to entertain before the main event of the walk.

We saw the one “buddy family” we know in Mobile County. Sophia is nine, so a year younger (and a full head taller) than Sarah Kate, and is the older sister of Ethan, who is about six months older than Nathan (Ethan is a patient at Sarah Kate’s therapy office). The girls hung out for awhile, waiting for the walk to start.

As it turned out, the walk never started. It rained. And rained. And rained some more. Fortunately, the event was held at Hank Aaron Stadium, so there was a passable amount of shelter.

What there wasn’t was plenty of prizes for the kids to win, since the games don’t usually get played for two hours straight. Not that Nathan cared – he didn’t accept the prizes offered, anyway. In the photo below, he’s with Ethan, as well as our new friends Leah and Andrew.

And yes, I do realize that their faces are obscured by Ethan’s hand, but this photo makes me laugh because it’s So. Them.

Constant motion.

When I said “new friend Leah” I wasn’t kidding. 🙂

When all else fails, waterboard your Buddy, right?

In the end, the walk never materialized, but the buddies didn’t mind.