It was an incredibly gorgeous day and I had just arrived at a corvette autocross event.
As I walked to the parking lot where the course was marked off with orange cones, I passed a blue canopy next to the fence which provided a bit of a safety barrier with the autocross course.
The canopy provided shade for its only occupant—a young man around 20 years old, who sat in a chair, facing away from where the course would take place.
“Hi, how are you? Your shirt looks nice. Are you having a good day?” he said to everyone who went by, even if it was their second or third time.
In late morning, I ended up placing my chair on the blacktop on the same side of the fence as the parking lot where the autocross took place (on the opposite side of the fence where the young man was sitting).
Since he had not seemed to be watching the race, I was surprised when the young man, I’ll call him Kevin, started talking to me.
“Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving?” he asked.
“Yes. Are you?”
“Well, I was, but my grandpa broke his hip and he is in North Carolina. My mom went to help him and won’t be back until Friday. I really miss her. She’s really nice.”
“I have a twin sister. She lives in Boston. I was the first one born and my parents chose me to adopt because they chose the very best one.”
“When were you adopted?”
“When I was a baby.”
At one point, one of the men (who drove a very fast Porsche) walked over special to say hello to Kevin. He obviously knew him and Kevin must have been at other races.
“Do you ever ride in the cars on the track?” I asked.
“On, no, I might have a seizure and that wouldn’t be good.”
“When did your seizures start?”
“When I was about 11 months old.”
Kevin’s dad came over to tell him that after the next run they would be going and they had a short delightful father-son conversation.
I was so impressed with the young man and his father who obviously was caring and loving for his (adopted) son. I don’t know if Kevin was somewhat brain damaged before or after adoption; but his parents loved and cared for him (their son), even though he would never be in the limelight, nor be able to race or even ride in a race in his dad’s corvette.
What a super example of doing what is really important, even though there will never be any accolades for this young man or his parents.
