"Wait, he has special needs too?!" -Samantha Mears

We are so lucky to have had the opportunity to have met another PTLS Family! 

The Mears Family. 

Alex, Ryan, Samantha, Debbie, Shelly, Jamison & Justin

 We met up for lunch and had so much to talk about. I was so happy to meet her daughter Samantha (16 years old) and get a feel for what she is like. I loved hearing from her mom Debbie, but especially loved when she chimed in and laughed and told us about herself, it's always amazing to me... I mean I know that she talked but when you hear it, it just seems so much different, I guess because Jamison is still non verbal I just can't comprehend it all yet, that soon he too will be talking to me and reading a menu at a restaurant... it is a really weird feeling :)


I was happy to hear that Samantha had a lot of similarities to Jamison, and the most shocking one was when I asked if Samantha ever laughed at people fighting in movies (like kicking and punching) and it was a simultaneous "YEAH" from her whole family, it was pretty funny, because I thought Jamison was the only one...guess not!

Also, the most interesting thing to me personally was talking to her two wonderful brothers (Ryan 23 and Alex 12) about how they felt about having a sibling with special needs. You could tell just how much they cared for her and adored her, they talked about how they would tease her playfully when they were younger and you could just see her light up when they talked about it. Her oldest brother Ryan even commented on how when he meets a girl he will only date them if Samantha likes them and they get along well together. It made me feel so comforted that one day, when we do have another child that everything will be fine. That has been weighing very heavily on me lately and I was worried about how another child would feel growing up, so I was SO happy to see how much love and compassion her brothers had for her.

It was so cute, but about half way through lunch I had made some comment about Jamison having "special needs" and Samantha chimed in and said "wait, he has special needs too?!" It was the cutest thing ever watching her put it all together and her mom told her "yes, he's just like you" and Samantha just smiled and lit up and was so happy, in that moment I just felt so wonderful... she is such a special girl.  She also said that "Jamison is so cute..." that was pretty adorable also.

Here is a cute picture of Samantha & Jamison together...

Samantha & Jamison (08/28/2010)