Emil, who graduated from Grade 12 one year ago (hard to believe a year's gone by already), still attends high school, where he follows a learning program for life skills. He also has a work placement at Mallard Industries, which is the sheltered workshop in Wadena, and does a short shift there several times a week.

When I was in town this week I dropped off Grandma's purse strap to be shortened (Mallard Industries has a wide variety of businesses on the go, one of which is a shoemakers or repair shop) and then went to see Emil at his workstation. He sorts recyclables and was pleased to show me how HARD he can throw those plastic containers into barrels.

Next year he'll be at school again and working only part-time at Mallard, but eventually, the following year or perhaps the year after that, he will become a full-time employee at Mallard Industries.

He enjoys his job and takes it seriously. If he and his aide are a little late arriving, as can happen if he's had to go to the bathroom at the last minute, then when coffee time comes he'll sometimes insist on skipping it to make up for being late. If it's a "Mallard" day, he doesn't like to make any alternate plans.

Mallard Industries also operates several group homes in town. One day Emil will go live in one with other Mallard employees. We are pretty fortunate to have a service like this right in the town where we live. The disabled adult children of many families throughout the province have no choice but to leave for distant points in order to have a more independent and productive life. Emil will be able to have both in his home community, with his family so close by that he can come home on weekends whenever he likes. This, of course, will make it easier for his mom to watch her firstborn child leave home. He'll be just a hop, skip and jump away.