One of the merchandise booths sold a bumper sticker with the slogan “Down Syndrome People: A Little Different, A Lot the Same.” No kidding. Even they couldn’t escape romantic drama.

Bryan and Kerry
Kerry is a lovely, independent Down girl. Bryan is an average-looking independent Down guy. Kerry is sweet, sensitive and thoughtful. Bryan is excitable, sensitive and ADHD-governed. Bryan was the last to get seated at our table. He could not stop saying, “Gosh, Kerry, you look so nice!” She smiled at him and said, “Thank you.” Kerry is engaged and showed us her ring. We all raved and congratulated her. Somehow Bryan ended up seated next to Kerry. When she cried during a performance of “My Heart Will Go On,” he hugged her and cried with her. Then he privately sang to her to cheer her up. She dealt with all of this maturely, trying not to lead him on but also not rebuffing him too hard. He meanwhile grew very sullen at her lack of interest in him. An older experienced volunteer woman at our table told him, “Bryan, this is a happy place. You need to put on your happy face.” Bryan said, “I’m sorry, it’s just personal things on my mind, that’s all. I’m just going thru some sad thoughts.” Kerry told him, “No you’re not. You’re on cloud 9, because I’m on cloud 9, and you’re here with me.” Wow. I gotta remember that line for use with my future kids. A volunteer as equally inexperienced as me, one of my cousin’s friends, leaned into me and said, “Bryan likes Kerry but Kerry’s engaged.” I said, “And he has a girlfriend! He was just talking about her earlier. AND, his ex-girlfriend is here somewhere.” “WHAT?!” she exclaimed, “I missed all that.” I didn’t. I’m finely attuned to relationship drama.

Ballsy Guy and Blondie Volunteer
These people were not at my table so I don’t have names. Ballsy Guy is a burly, tough guy looking Down guy in a trendy checkered button-down shirt with a buzz cut. Blondie Volunteer’s got a pretty enough face with all her makeup, but she could stand to lose about 15 lbs. (Sorry, it’s the girl in me.) Ballsy guy was not a guy from Blondie’s table, but he came by to say hi to her. She greeted him and he pulled up a chair right next to her and put his arms around her shoulders, hugging her close. She patted his hands, but it became embarassingly apparent that he did not plan to let go. There was a romantic song playing, some couple was doing an interpretive dance routine onstage, and most of the Down people were swaying to the music. Ballsy Guy had half his face buried in Blondie’s hair. She kept patting his hand, more to ensure that his hands stayed at her shoulder height than for any friendly gesture. She pulled his hand down after another few seconds, and he left his face close to hers, staring intently at her; she refused to make eye contact. He started stroking her upper arm with his chubby undersized hand. She tried a few more tactics to get him to stop and he wouldn’t, so she told him, “I’ll be right back,” grabbed her purse, and walked out. I said to my cousin’s friend volunteer, “She’s not coming back.” Sure enough. She came back in after presumably visiting the restroom outside the ballroom and seeing Ballsy Guy still at her table, stood at the back of the ballroom. The Keanu Reeves Down guy engaged her in conversation. Seeing this, Ballsy Guy got up and started making his way across the ballroom toward them. She turned and went out another back door. Ballsy Guy isn’t permitted to follow; they’re not allowed to leave the area w/o an attendant. So he went back to his own table. He would cran his neck every few minutes to see if she came back to her table. Then eventually he just came back and sat at her table to wait for her, often popping his buzzed head above the crowd like a meerkat to see if she was coming in the door. I went out to the restroom and saw her just sitting in a chair outside the ballroom. I’d feel sorry for her if she weren’t flirting with a cute Bank of America volunteer. She was well taken-care of.