Special Olympics Bowling

Today we went bowling with adults with special needs.  I had a fun time and I think the olympians did also.  I was in a group with 4 men:  Brett Davis, Eddie L., Jay Barker, and Loren B.   They were not the best bowlers in the world but Brett did better than I normally do.  These men were pretty silent and Jay couldn't talk.  It was very rewarding to see the smiles on their faces when they hi-fived me after getting a rare strike or spare.  Sometimes it was frustrating when they took forever trying to pick a ball or when they threw the ball so slowly that it felt like it took an hour for it to finally make it to the end of the gutter.  I then realized how gifted with patients the coaches and helpers must be.  If I was getting annoyed after only 2 hours I can only imagine what it would be like to spend a whole day having to walk them through the most basic activities.  There was a man on the lane next to me named Weslie.  He could not stop talking about his choo-choo train that was black and gray (today).  He was going to ride home on it at 1:30 and he kept asking Carolyn and I "Will you come with me next time"?  One thing I noticed about him was that he always had a smile on his face.  It is kind of hard to believe how if you were mentally handicapped and everyone treated you so differently you could be happy at all times.  The bowler's coach told me that Weslie and Jay( the one who liked to try my patience in picking out a ball) pretty much lived life in their own little worlds.  They don't really know whats going on around them.  Every time it was Jay's turn he would get up and walk to the ball return and just stand there and rock himself and he would forget what he was there to do, he had a hard time putting his fingers in the ball and he would turn around immediately after releasing the ball and never see how many pins he knocked down or anything.  I feel sorry for him and wonder why God made people like that.  What is going on inside their heads that they don't know how to do anything?  I also feel bad that he must not know anything besides what his nurse tells him and then he can only remember for a short time.  It is hard not to treat people differently when they are mute, walk very slowly, and show no emotion.  There was another man in Carolyn's lane that was named Raymond.  He had his own bowing shoes and brought his own ball.  It was sad to see that he only got to use his ball a few times because other people in his lane and mine were using it.  Also in Carolyn's lane was a man named Billy.  Almost every time he bowled he got a gutter ball, but he would clap and get all happy anyway.  If I gutterballed it I would be very angry.  His joy must have come from God.  One of the highlights of the day was when he gutterballed it actually.  His gutterball was so weak that it didn't even make it to the end of the lane. I tried to knock it down the gutter with another ball but mine got stuck instead.  The next bowler knocked down alot of pins as a result of the ball bouncing from the ball stuck in the gutter back into the lane and Weslie actually got a strike knocked off the ball backboard!  I had a really fun time and I hope we gave the special olympians a day they will never forget :)