Tag Archives: disabilities
Have you ever had some event that unexpectedly triggers a whole flood of memories and emotions? The other day I stumbled across an ESPN 30-for-30 episode about the University of Colorado Buffaloes football teams of the late 80s and early 90s. Under Coach Bill McCartney, the Buffaloes rose from obscurity to national prominence for a few years. Our late, special-needs son Peter was a football nut, as described in my memoir of him, He Made Us Better: A…..
One of the interesting sub-plots in the memoir about the life of our special-needs son Peter, He Made Us Better: A Story of Faith, Family, Friends (and Football) is the story of Alex Falder. Early in the book I tell how as a little kid, Alex reminded me of the Tasmanian devil in the Bugs Bunny cartoons—a whirlwind of energy, who continuously went spinning from one misadventure to another. Alex became an elementary school classmate and friend of Peter’s, where…..
Yes, you saw the title of this post correctly. While it’s a great thing to compliment your spouse, I’m talking about something different here. In my dictionary, complement means “something that completes, makes up a whole, or brings to perfection.” In my book, He Made Us Better: A Story of Faith, Family, Friends (and Football) I tell about how my wife Sandra and I worked together pretty well as a team to care for our special-needs son Peter over…..
This year was the first year that our oldest grandson, Randy, 12 years old, played tackle football. In this grandpa’s totally unbiased opinion, I thought he did pretty well (before he broke his finger). And most importantly, he had fun. But as I watched him, I often thought about our late, special-needs son Peter, and how much he would have enjoyed seeing his nephew Randy play. In our house, there’s something special about football. But Peter’s nephew…..
In the preface of my new book about our special-needs son Peter Boone, He Made Us Better: A Story of Faith, Family, Friends (and Football), I said that there was no way I could begin to tell all of the stories I’d like to tell. What follows here isn’t so much of a story as a plea—to be sensitive to those around us with physical disabilities. In this world, few things make me angrier than the widespread, shameless misuse,…..
When I wrote my new book He Made Us Better: A Story of Faith, Family, Friends (and Football) about the 39-year journey with our special-needs son Peter, my primary purpose was to inspire and encourage people. And I really wanted it to get to those who especially needed some encouragement. Recently I’ve encountered some pretty convincing evidence that that’s already happening. My day job is being a freelance agribusiness writer. About three weeks ago, I was scheduled to attend…..
In August of 1995, our special-needs son Peter finally took possession of a brand new, full-sized Ford van. It was completely accessible, with an automatic lift, and had hand controls, so that Peter, who was in a wheelchair, could drive it. It also had a removable driver’s seat, so that “regular people” could drive it too. Peter couldn’t have been prouder! One Saturday evening in October, Pete’s van was sitting outside, and I went out to put it away…..
I was 27 and my wife 26 when our second son Peter was born with a serious birth defect. Looking back over the decades, we were just kids—kids who had just had a bomb dropped on us. I could write a book about the things I’ve learned in the intervening decades that would have been helpful to know. But here are just a few of the things that I wish the me of today could have told myself in those…..
In the prologue of my new book He Made Us Better: A Story of Faith, Family, Friends (and Football), I tell how our son Peter had incorporated legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne’s famous words, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” into the core of his being. Peter was born with a serious birth defect, which led to a lifetime of physical challenges and medical complications. Scores of surgeries and lengthy hospitalizations were a way of…..
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