The mourning of my son has lasted a long time, but I was finally able to work up the courage and found my inner strength to go through his things. I walked through his room, touched every surface of it, and thought of all of the wonderful things that my boy experienced in his life. God knows that Victor and I tried with all our hearts to provide Antonio with a full and meaningful life. My other children were wonderful at including their baby brother throughout the years and helping him have a meaningful life. I have the best family in the world! After touching everything in the room, I sat on the bed and had a good cry. Not a cry of despair, but joy for the amazing son I was blessed to have, to serve, to love during his short life. I then began to clean out his room and pack things up. I wanted to keep everything! Everything had a story; everything was special to me. One thing in particular that I found in Antonio’s room brought a huge smile to my face and a stream of joyful tears: his prom king crown! I remember helping him get ready for this big occasion. We found a tux that would fit him just right in his favorite color, we got a beautiful corsage for his lovely, and should I say angel, date, and took lots of pictures of the stunning couple. I kept it together while we were taking the thousands of pictures, but as soon as they left the house and headed to the dance hall, I broke into happy Mom tears. I was so grateful for that wonderful young girl who looked past the physical limitations of my son (he was now at that point in a wheelchair after losing complete use of his legs and pelvis). I was grateful for my confident son who felt so okay with who he was and what he was capable of accomplishing. His confidence, his smile, his kindness made him a popular boy in his high school. The students loved Antonio, he was always hanging out with friends and he would get countless phone calls every night. This made Victor and I so happy and proud of our son. Anyways, the next morning I remember waking up and finding a crown, the very crown that I held in my hands while cleaning his room, on the couch. My waterworks started up again and I cried with joy as I pictured my son on the stage in front of his classmates getting crowned as Prom King! A mother could not feel more happiness than to see her disabled son being liked, happy, and socially accepted.On a side note and completely informational, Antonio lost the ability to walk even with supportive leg braces at the age of twelve. His muscular dystrophy progressed very quickly throughout his short life and he lost the function of a lot of his body, including his arms and neck. He also began to have extreme back and chest deformities in late adolescence and young adulthood. He was strapped into his wheelchair and had supports to hold his neck, head, and back up.
