Noah
My friends have always been the best part of me. Samantha McCarthy (S.M.) and Elizabeth Buckley taught me how to love and how to remain positive no matter what happens in life. My former teachers (now co-workers) at Haugland Learning Center, along with my “sisters”, taught me to embrace my autism, and become the confident person I am today. I need friends because they make me better than I would be without them… Little did I know that I was about to make a great one.
A few months ago I was bagging at Kroger. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and it was one of my bosses. “Mitchell,” he said pointing, “Could you help that gentleman around the store.” I look where he was pointing and saw that standing at the customer service desk was a blind man. I walked up to him, introduced myself, helped him get a cart, and started shopping with him.
The blind man was named Noah, and over the course of the shopping trip, I got to know him quite well. He's 27 years old, he’s a musician (a very talented one, I would learn later), and he has dreams of playing on the paralympic soccer team in 2028!
At the end of the shopping trip, Noah asked me if he could have my social media information. He DM’d me about a week later, and we had coffee. We talked about our lives and our respective disabilities and bonded over similar struggles that we have both had. After having coffee a few more times, I texted him on Christmas Day and I asked him if he wanted to hang out again in January.
On Martin Luther King Day, because we both had the day off, I went to Noah’s apartment to listen to music and just hang out. When I got to the apartment building he let me in and lead me to his apartment. It was incredible to watch. He was able to do it with such ease. It was as if he was not blind!
When we got into his apartment we sat down and started to catch up. After a little bit of small talk, I asked him a question. “Hey Noah, I have a proposal for you.”
“Ok, what is it?”
“So you know how I told you my ‘sisters’ have all moved?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we made this friend Marshall, a couple years back and brought him into our friend group. So now that the girls are gone, it's just him and me… We were kind of wondering if you wanted to join our little friend group?”
“Of course” He exclaimed, “I would be happy too!”
As soon as he said that I smiled. I was really happy because I am excited for the new adventures that Marshall Noah and I will go on, and all the things I will learn from the two of them along the way.
Have a Greattastic Day!
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
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