Bring da thunder

Hey friends,

It's summer time. You know what that means? It means that I've once again become an indentured servant at my house.

I suppose it counts as rent. My parents make me do chores around the house, yard work, chauffeur duty, and heavy lifting. What really sucks is that with all the work I've had to do around here, I haven't had time to do stuff I need to do, including: getting my address changed, getting a steady job, and being lazy. (All key things for a summer in my opinion.)

All this has also combined to make it difficult to write in the blog here. It's not like in Muncie where all my friends help me do interesting stuff which would then warrant a blog entry. Since most of my friends live far away and such, I have few people to hang out with. (Those who DO live around here are always busy with other stuff.)

But, I'm not writing this entry to start a pity-party for Nate-O...

Actually, I have no idea what my original premise was for this entry.

(five minutes later)

OH YEAH. I remember now. My brother's graduation party thing is on Saturday. As excited as I am for the little bro, it's been WAY more hectic than mine was. My dad is way more excited, my mom is way more stressed out, my sister actually has a job so she can't always help out much, and my brother is indifferent.

Ok, I'm going to get serious for a little bit now.

For those of you who don't know, my brother is a person with autism. Autism is a developmental/learning disability and he's been this way since he was about 2 or 3. He's come a very long way since those days.

Phil is involved very heavily in Special Olympics. In the warmer months he participates in swimming (freestyle, relay, and backstroke) and bowling (individual). In winter, he plays basketball and figure skates. In the few years he been an athlete, he has earned a TON of medals and certificates. Just this last weekend, Phil participated in the 2006 S.O. of Indiana Summer Games in Terra Haute. Not only did he win medals in Bowling and Swimming, he also ran the first leg of the Olympics torch run in downtown Indianapolis on Friday.

Phil graduated from North Central High School on May 24th with over 680 other seniors. In the fall, he'll go back to school for vocational courses to prepare himself to become a productive member of the Indianapolis community.

Even though this party on Saturday is going to be tough to get ready for, it's well worth all the effort we've put into it. Phil totally deserves this and I am so proud of everything he's accomplished.

If you ever get the chance; nay, the honor to meet my little brother, don't think of him as disabled. You should merely think of him as different and there is never anything wrong with that.


Honorable Mentions
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Philip: My brother and my friend whom I love very much.


~Nate-O