Joshua Myers and Susan Kaphammer

SK: What is your disability?

JM: I have, um, Down syndrome and I consider it a gift, but at first I thought it was a curse.

SK: A curse? You told me once that it’s just too much but I didn’t know how overwhelmed you were until they called and told me that you had gone and stood out in a busy intersection in the road.

JM: I just want to kill myself, but a lady stopped for me.

SK: So she had you come in the car and talk.

JM: Yeah.

SK: And have we seen her since?

JM: No.

SK: First of all, I’m just so grateful to that person I don’t know who took that time with you. When you’re a parent, the most important thing is that you be happy and, when you’re not happy, it’s just so frightening that I can’t make that okay for you.

How is your life now?

JM: Awesome.

SK: What’s good about it?

JM: Everything. I love my life.

SK: Did you have dreams for your future when you were young?

JM: The dreams that I have are really vivid.

SK: Varied, uh huh.

JM: Vivid.

SK: Oh, vivid. What kinds of things did you think of doing?

JM: Some sexual things but I don’t really want to get into that.

SK: I’m not thinking just dreams at night but things that you wanted to become.

JM: There’s a lot of things I wanted to be back then but there’s only two things now.

SK: What’s that?

JM: One of them is to be a minister.

SK: Um-hmm.

JM: The other is wrestling and WWE, (SK: Laughs) to make my family proud from that.

SK: Do you think your family is proud of you?

JM: I know they are. I love my mom so much. I would even die for her.

SK: But I don’t want you to die for me.

JM: No, no, no.

SK: I want you to live for me.

JM: Me and my mom have this everlasting love.

SK: And that’s what you particularly taught me, is how to love and everyone is who they are and who they’re meant to be.

Do you remember what we usually say to each other? You’re my Josh. And then you say…

JM: You’re my mom.

SK: You’re my Josh.

JM: You’re my mom.