Search Developmental Center (SDC) is a not-for-profit in Chicago that has and continues to offer up positive change in the lives of many developmentally disabled adults by letting them have a chance to work, live and play just like everyone else. Most recently the creation of Search for Adventure (SFA) has sent many of them, and some Toads, on some amazing trips. One Toadette, Paige, a spry fun gal who spit shines our designs, went on a cruise to the Bahamas and in her words, "got schooled" on some of the finer points of life that tend to get skipped over.

Sometimes those all-important lessons are taught in the least likely of locations, far from a chalkboard or textbook. Well, fine fellow humans (and others), it's those random moments of clarity that make life interesting, and we at Horny Toad have partnered up with Search Developmental Center to keep them coming.

Here's a little spotlight on her trip.

Q: When you first got on the boat and met your fellow trip mates, what did you think?
Paige: I was so excited to get invited on this trip, first of all, but kinda entered into it without knowing what to expect. I’d never really been around people with developmental disabilities, so, it was really the unknown to me. Once I met Jennifer (trip coordinator at SFA) and saw the enthusiasm she put into her job/life, I started to get a clearer picture of what it was going to be like for the next week – hands up and here we gooooo.

Q: What about the clients?
Paige: Like I said, it was a new experience for me and a bit out of the comfort zone, but one thing I noticed right off the bat was an excitement in all of their eyes, and a genuine gratefulness to be out on a cruise and having a great time pool side. It made me so happy to see that I was a part of making that happen for them. It really gets ya right here.

Q: What were some of the best and worst things about the trip?
Paige: That’s easy, learning the sometimes fair and unfair perceptions people have of things they are unfamiliar with. Some folks on the cruise were super cool and stoked to see what SFA was doing, while others had absolutely no patience at all, as if it was a big inconvenience for them to have to share the deck with people that were different from what they were used to. It made me take a second look at all the things I get annoyed with. After all, we are all in this together, right?

Q: What did your shipmates teach you?
Paige: Patience for myself and others, appreciation and gratefulness for the here and now, being yourself not matter what - just about everything I tend to forget when things start to get crazy. I can’t wait for the next trip with the wonderful people at Search for Adventure.

The choices we make are as important as the clothes we create. We try each day to lighten our environmental footprint, be good partners in all of our relationships, pay attention and stay active in our communities and support organizations that improve our world - the source of our daily adventures.