Mother balances bills, time, space constraints

Down syndrome can't put damper on boy's wishes

SINTON - He likes to listen to music on Hot Z-95 that blares from a radio, and if no one is looking, he'll dance. He sometimes fights with his mom at bath time. And don't be surprised if his conversations are sprinkled with burps and giggles.

His eyes that sparkle with mischief and humor betray him a bit. Robert may have Down syndrome but he's a 12-year-old boy nonetheless. A boy with Christmas wishes.

"A couch," he announced. "She can sleep in there."

She is his mother Sandra, who reminds him until a few months ago there was no room to share. The bills were too overwhelming and the two bounced from home to home. This trailer at the edge of town is little -- one bedroom and a living room so small that the Christmas tree Robert was given at school eats up the free space -- but it's a home.


Sandra, 46, said monthly bills including rent, utilities, child support for her daughter and car payment total more than $1,300. The $571 Robert receives in Social Security benefits and the $800 she brings home as a cashier at an area refinery leaves her roughly $71 for gas and groceries for the rest of the month. She often comes up short and Christmas is out of the question.

Sandra said she doesn't qualify for food stamps or other government aide because the agency feels her car is a luxury and the money she spends to pay for it is disposable income. But the used economy car is the only way Sandra can travel the 50 miles back and forth to work each day. She doesn't want to change jobs because the company for which she has worked for 10 years provides health insurance.

Sometimes she doesn't know how she manages to make it all work.


Robert, who is in the sixth grade, likes school and wants to learn to read. He makes jokes at every turn. He really wants new clothes for school because he has to wear the same pants "all the time."

He doesn't have many toys because he's not really into that any more, but he would love an iPod or a game system like the other kids at his school have.

He likes to play basketball but isn't crazy about the small hoop out front.

"That's for babies," he said.

And he's a boy after all. A boy with Christmas wishes.

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