Thomas as well. Thomas is unique in his own way and by way of having Lillian as a sibling. He gets to share with other siblings and gets to be mentored by older siblings who have traveled his path. These people are his friends too and every year their friendships deepen. He gets to be amongst others who have long ago released judgments of others. xoxox

Why the Starfish for the Chromosome 18 symbol? This …

The Starfish Story

A young man is walking along the ocean and
sees a beach on which thousands and thousands
of starfish have washed ashore. Further along
he sees an old man, walking slowly and
stooping often, picking up one starfish after
another and tossing each one gently into the
ocean.

“Why are you throwing starfish into the
ocean?,” he asks.

“Because the sun is up and the tide is going out
and if I don’t throw them further in they will
die.”

“But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles
and miles of beach and starfish all along it!
You can’t possibly save them all, you can’t even
save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you
work all day, your efforts won’t make any
difference at all.”

The old man listened calmly and then bent
down to pick up another starfish and threw it
into the sea. “It made a difference to that one.”

Thanks Missy Baker, Marie McGing, Nora Schaefer, Heidi Hulspus, and Natalie Abreuhorne for sharing your pictures with me!!