My best friend married my younger sister, who has Down syndrome.<\/p>\n
Three years later, he almost died while giving up his twins.<\/p>\n
As the doctors struggled to save her, Ben took me to an empty hallway in the hospital and whispered, \u201cIt\u2019s time you understood why I really married Rosie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he handed me a contract with my parents’ signatures<\/p>\n
What I read made me scream.<\/p>\n
I was seven when I first understood that the world could punish my sister simply for being different.<\/p>\n
Rosie was six, just a year younger than me.<\/p>\n
He had soft brown curls, a laugh that filled each room and a face that lit up every time someone spoke his name kindly.<\/p>\n
Not everyone did.<\/p>\n
The children pointed it out.<\/p>\n
They copied the way she spoke.<\/p>\n
They laughed when she struggled to keep up during the games.<\/p>\n
Every time I saw tears in her eyes, I stood in front of her like a little shield, my fists clenched to my sides.<\/p>\n
Ben was the only other kid who never hesitated.<\/p>\n
I had been my best friend since kindergarten.<\/p>\n
Every time the teams were chosen during recess, Ben chose Rosie before anyone could leave her alone.<\/p>\n
When he dropped his lunch tray in second grade and half of the cafeteria laughed, he sat on the floor next to her and ate his sandwich there.<\/p>\n
\u201cRosie, we will always have Ben and me,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
I repeated it so often that he finally believed it.<\/p>\n
In fourth grade, Ben crouched down in front of her in the playground and made a promise I never forgot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we get older, I\u2019ll take you to the prom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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