Lucas Camilo

We come to you here, at the end of 2020, hoping this moment finds you surviving and thriving with whatever resilience and creative juices you have left to make it through this pandemic winter.

We were going to try to write a Christmas letter/end of year summary.  But in this year that feels anything but normal, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to try to sum anything up. We are grieving and grateful. We are thriving and we are withering. We are creative and we are dull. We are eating a lot of pie and drinking more whiskey than usual, though maybe less than we thought we would back in March.

So instead of writing a here’s-what-we-did-in-2020, we turned to our kids – the people who keep us present and laughing and grounded in the important questions about life. Like “can I have one more piece of Halloween candy?” and “why can’t I have more iPad time?”

So, we interviewed Lucas and Ida. Here you go. Our kids on a day in early December:

What is something that you have enjoyed about staying home during quarantine?

Lucas: Doing awesome things with my awesome family, like playing games and reading. And going on accessible hikes.

Ida: We did a really good job of decorating the Christmas tree. [Editors note: we did that 24 hours before this interview. But Ida insisted she get ALL THE SAME QUESTIONS as her brother.]

What are some books you’d recommend?

Lucas: If you’re into Star Wars, check out Origami Yoda. If you like superheroes and animals, you should read Flora and Ulysses. [Editors note: we also recommend these if you can’t be done with Diary of a Wimpy Kid soon enough.]

Ida: Well, if you’re into magic, read Harry Potter. My best friend Julian also read Harry Potter. If you’re into non-fiction, you should read Winter’s Tale. Winter is a dolphin who was in a trap so couldn’t get out so a fisherman saw her and did a rescue. And she goes to an aquarium and people who make prosthetics made her a new tail and it was a lot of work. And people sent her birthday cards, and on her third birthday she even got a cake.

What is your favorite part of online 6^th grade/kindergarten?

Lucas: Art and science. Also math. Mr. Sklar is a really nice guy.

Ida: Art! And I really like math and Seesaw [online school work platform] projects.

What is one great thing about being you?

Lucas: That I’m not always great. Mwaa haa haaa haaaa. Maniacal laugh… maniacal laugh!

[Lucas is really into being his alter-ego, a trickster evil-doer named “Nefarious Gloomster.”]

Ida: That I picked the best Christmas tree.

What are you looking forward to once there is a vaccine and we can go out again?

Lucas: Going to Aki Kurose [middle school].

Ida: Going to kindergarten.

What is something you want people to know about having a disability or a body that is different than most other people?

Lucas: One of the hardest things about having a disability is having to wait for people to get me things I need or want. I’m getting better at having patience, though.

Ida: My body is like when you’re little and you need a hand or you’ll fall, but right now I fall more than other people. But can I say something good about having a disability? One cool thing is that I can be different than everyone else. I can be myself.

When she said that it felt like a cosmic mic drop. How do you top that? We get to hang out with these funny and enthusiastic and self-confident and curious kids ALL THE TIME, and that has been as wonderful as it is hard.

We can’t wait to make it through winter, hopefully with enough toilet paper and craft supplies and movies we can all agree on.

We share this impossible update as a small attempt to send our love out into the ether.  May we all stay as connected as we can, given this moment. Please hug yourself, hug anyone else you can touch, and know that we are thinking of you and can’t wait to hug you some time next year!