A former teacher and current attorney, Heidi Angel and her husband, Rich, have been married for 17 years, and they have two daughters, Natalie, 7, and Emily, 5. Emily has Down syndrome and attends the KinderFrogs School at Texas Christian University. Heidi also serves as legal counsel and as a board member for the Down Syndrome Partnership of North Texas. In her spare time she runs, hikes, bikes and generally likes to be outside.
5:20AM The alarm goes off and I’m out the door early to run with an old friend—one of those friends you can really be honest with so this time together is the best way to start off my week. Other days I sleep a little later depending on whether I am working from home that day and whether Emily wakes up earlier (sometimes she just has to make a pretend cake with me at 5:30am).
6:30AM I take a shower and make coffee before the kids wake up.
6:55AM Time to wake up the kids. Rich helps with breakfasts and lunches— rarely are we organized enough to make lunches the night before, and I have been known to throw a frozen burrito and a banana into a lunch bag in a pinch.
7:35AM Rich and Natalie are out the door to meet up with the “walking school bus.” (A parent leads the walk to our neighborhood school each morning on a set route.) I stay inside to try to convince Emily to put on her shoes herself and carry her backpack to the car. Her socks feel “wiggly” today so we rearrange them a few times until I finally tell her we will fix them when we get to school, hoping she might forget about the wiggling (She does! One point Mama!). She requests to listen to Moana songs in the car and tells me repeatedly to stop singing.
7:45AM I drop off Emily at KinderFrogs and get a huge smile and wave from one of the teacher-supported classroom aides who works at the school, and I soak up all the happiness I possibly can from that wonderful place. Then it’s time for me to make the drive to my office in Dallas.
9AM My law practice focuses on wills and trusts and special needs planning, and today it begins with a phone call from a mom who wants to discuss guardianship options for her soon-tobe 18-year-old son with Down syndrome. We talk about alternatives to guardianship and try to find a good fit. I enjoy walking families through these tough decisions. Having alternatives such as supported decision-making agreements available has empowered many adults with intellectual/development disabilities, which is exciting.
1PM After grabbing lunch out, I have a will-signing ceremony and then a phone call with a potential client who wants to set up an LLC for a small business. Another attorney in the firm briefs me on some research he needs done, and I get started on that before leaving for the day.
4:15PM Leaving now means I miss rush-hour traffic. Meanwhile, Rich picks up the girls from school and takes Emily to her soccer practice. Other days of the week our beloved babysitter and friend helps with the girls.
5:30PM I work on dinner preparations while the kids watch TV. (Lately, they always want to watch Odd Squad—at least they can both agree on this one!) I take a walk around the neighborhood with the girls after dinner while Rich cleans up the dishes. Emily has a propensity to run off so I wear my running shoes to keep up with her. We linger outside chatting with our neighbors a little too late and then finally run in for bath time.
7PM The girls take baths, which looks a lot like the book The Pigeon Needs a Bath!—no one wants to get in, and then no one wants to get out. After baths, Natalie grabs a book to read in bed and starts listing all the words she knows in alphabetical order (even though I keep telling her she knows thousands of words). Emily is asking Rich to read Elmo’s My Big Book of Firsts to her. This one has been on repeat for quite a while and is falling apart, and we are kind of hoping to spark interest in something else soon. Rich says goodnight and then I stay and sing some songs with Emily. I scratch Natalie’s back and give last kisses for the night. Natalie wants to read a little longer so she uses her camping headlamp. Emily seems to fall asleep faster with the little light on, knowing sister is still up (to fend off the monsters, of course).
8:30PM Once the kids are asleep, I sit by the fire and listen to music with Rich for a while before getting in bed. The last thing we do before going to sleep is to make sure the doors are locked and the chains we have attached high on the front and back doors are latched—as my fellows special needs parents can appreciate, we sleep more peacefully knowing our little escape artists cannot wander off at night.
