Letter: Helping others is greatest reward
Sunday, May 20, 2012
On Mother’s Day I was exposed to what true parenthood is really about. Through Volunteer Chore Services, I was asked to be a driver that day for an adult who is 46 years old but has the mentality of approximately a 3-year-old. For some reason he and I made a connection.
I took him and his mother to Healing Winds, a therapeutic riding center in Brush Prairie, so he could ride a horse for an hour and then give the horse carrots to eat. And it gave him so much joy.
He can’t talk but his mother sure can. Our exchange was another rude awakening in my life. I really thought my life was rough. I was so wrong. This mother had two children who were so disabled that she spent her entire life caring for them. One died at 20 years old, and now at 70 years old, she is having problems caring for her last child.
I am so grateful that I was asked to drive that day. All of us need to step up and help one another. This woman should be a poster child for what parenting is; she had so much love for her children. I was so proud to help this mother.
Rik Miller
Vancouver
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