Mikelle and I feel compelled to write about life with a disability, not just the challenges but the opportunities, the friendships, the innovations, and the brilliance of our communities in action as we share our everyday life living with a disability. With a little more information, motivation, we hope to share how our life is shining beautiful and maybe help you to shine beautiful, too.

Perhaps She Does Love Cats

It was Mikelle’s brother, Kasey, who loved cats. His seven year old hands helped rescue “Vampire,” a gray hodgepodge of a kitten from beneath the pfitzer bushes standing sentry to the entrance of our home on Ponds View Place, back when we had grass, a sprawling ranch-style home with an

Life with Mikelle

Life with Mikelle:  Balancing our Special Needs   I thought living with my daughter would either be intense, even feverish. or cool and somewhat detached. After all, I am the “backup” her “just-in-case” person, the one she will use as needed, like a first aid kit. But, as any special

Life with Mikelle: Balancing our Special Needs

As I enter our home, it is warm and bathed in soft light.  I take off my coat and hang it on the hook near the door as I reflect on life in its present incarnation. I thought living with my daughter would either be intense, even feverish, in my

In Love With Love

In Love With Love By Taylor Mason “Learning how to love is the goal and the purpose of spiritual life — not learning how to develop psychic powers, not learning how to bow, chant, do yoga, or even meditate, but learning to love. Love is the truth. Love is the

Everyone Needs a Break–The Importance of Respite

Reluctant eagerness. Yes, those two words capture my dilemma each time I take a break from being a “special needs mom” and caregiver—if there is such a thing. Respite is good for both of us. On one hand, I am eager to leap out of my routine. Since, Mikelle graduated

A Fork in the Road

By Ashley Ryder,  Our new roommate. Some people say that ‘variety is the spice of life’…and I tend to agree. Like most people, I’ve got “chapters” in my life that define who I am and who I am trying to become. These segments are easy to identify because they’re punctuated

January is Happiness Month.

This month we are sharing our ideas on what makes us happy.  Listen to Kasey, Mikelle’s brother, thoughts on happiness.

How Happy is Your New Year?

  Happy New Year. Either I am getting older, or the world is getting more complicated—or both. This year at The Shining Beautiful Series, we decided to keep our celebrations simple, grabbing for clarity rather than verbosity. On January 2nd, sitting in my favorite coffee shop awaiting the arrival of

Our Shining Beautiful Community Glimmers this Holiday Season

While we love our words on Shining Beautiful, it is difficult to string them together in such a way as to capture the camera sees and what are hearts feel during the holiday season. Each year, we have two major events, a holiday party and Mikelle’s birthday party. These celebrations

Welcome to the Shining Beautiful Community

Meet new roommate, Ashley Ryder.  Ashley moved in with Mikelle and me in November just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Don’t worry,  Taylor is still helping out even though she moved out in October.   Ashley’s first blog for The Shining Beautiful Community. Moving truck loaded: check Final hugs and kisses

Reflecting on Success. Families at the Forefront of Technology Conference

Start. With a dream. They do come true. Not always. But, this time one did. Fourteen years ago, I wrote my first article on connecting people with disabilities to emerging technology for the Advance, a newsletter for APSE-The Employment Network. Ever since, I have been talking, writing and speaking about