Stay Kind
I grew up very fortunate. My best friend lived only 3 houses from me and so we were always able to hang out. My parents worked very hard to provide a good life for me, and I spent a lot of my spare time at the Zettel household. Michelle (the mother of my best friend) and Steve (his father) grew to be parents of my own. I not only got to enjoys the benefits of Michelle's cooking, but was able to learn essential life skills. You see, Joel, my best friend, is Down syndrome. However, he was never treated as such. Joel lives an ordinary life just as I do. As the Zettel's were a largely know wrestling family, Joel grew up wrestling with his older brother Steven. I remember several nights of sitting in the pool room while Steven was finishing his swim workout, and laughing with Joel saying it wasn't even hard, until one day we had to do it as well. Joel was the first one to be hooked up and just as he started to swim, I tried to escape. However, Steve caught me and told me that I was next. I got easily frustrated thinking, "why do I have to do it, I'm not a wrestler!". Just as Joel finished, Steve hooked me up on the rope and I jumped into the pool. Going in with the mindset of it wasn't even difficult, I had a rude awakening. After about a minute of the resistance swimming, I was exhausted. I begged to stop swimming but Steve wouldn't let me until I finished the time. After my ten minutes had gone past, all the muscles in my upper body were jello. Let's just say that Joel and I didn't make fun of Steven again.
Because Michelle only had boys, she always called me the girl she wished she had. Soon enough, I became part of the family. I traveled to many of Steven and Joel's wrestling tournaments and always ended up always being the towel girl (not saying I didn't ask to be). I remember times (when I wasn't the towel girl) that I was sitting on the bleachers with Michelle, and SEVERAL times throughout the tournament she was told that she needed to quiet down because she was cheering too loud. She was a proud mother, what else is there to say.
Joel and I had some very interesting and quite hilarious hangouts. One spring ( I was probably about 8 years old), Joel and I decided to ride his dirt bike in their field. Joel's little CRF50 dirt bike had training wheels and so we enjoyed the fact that we would never tip over. Instead of having to focus on balance, we focused on speed. After Joel had finished his turn driving, it was my turn. I immediately hit the throttle and started going over little bumps (remember, Joel was sitting on the back portion of the seat). Being an 8 year old, I didn't really consider too many risks. So as I was looking around for a good jump, I found the perfect one to finish the day on. I turned the bike around, and held the throttle all the way down so we would hit the jump at full speed. As we hit the jump, not much happened to me so I turned around to check on Joel to see him nearly 10 feet in the air and then landing straight on his rear. Joel wasn't the happiest camper when we got back to the house, but I couldn't stop laughing.
Because I was always at their house during my parents work day at the mine, I eventually started going to wrestling practices with Joel to be his wrestling dummy (something that many of the other kids parents weren't to happy about, because I was a girl). Since Steve was the coach of club wrestling, I was always picked on as the only girl at practice. Through countless cherry pickers, drilling, and my "attempt" at pull-ups, I made some of my best friends. Although I only practiced with them, I loved cheering each and every one of them on at the tournaments. The older I got, the less wrestling I did until I became the stats girl my freshman year of high school. My freshman year was Joel's Junior year and I got to be there for every tournament he was competing in and was always the crazy cheering sister.
Although I had to move away from Challis, Joel and I still kept touch. Today, I always love the text messages and phone calls I get from my "brother". Even on my hardest days, Joel still seems to make me giggle.
My point of this blog is a few things. First, I was not only lucky with getting the best immediate family, but a second family as well. Second, just because somebody may look different on the outside, they are no different than the rest of us. Joel made that very apparent. Third, don't make fun of (laugh at) someone because chances are, what they are doing (or even going through in situations) is harder then you could imagine. Fourth, always hit the throttle (just kidding it probably wasn't the best idea I have had). Fifth, people are going to hate and judge you no matter what you do. I came home several days after going to wrestling practices in tears because of how hurtful the things those parents said about a girl wrestling. Although what they said upset me, I am so glad that I got the experience of learning to wrestle. Not only was I able to spend extra time after school with my friends, but I learned self defense. And the last takeaway, spend as much time as possible with those you love. Michelle was a hard fighter of breast cancer, but unfortunately lost her life at the end of 2014. Michelle was a kind, loving, and passionate woman. I may not have been her biological child, but she never made me feel any less than that. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her and her homemade meals. Again, treasure your loved ones every day and spend as much time with them as you can!
Like I said at the beginning, I grew up very fortunate and wouldn't have had it any other way.