This party was different.
It was a big, happy, buzzing party to say goodbye to Regis Obijiski, the 26-year executive director of New Horizons Resources, a disability agency based in the Hudson Valley. Courtney Burke, New York state commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, recruited Obijiski to pitch in statewide from Albany.
Among the 300 partygoers, one was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable sports fan decked out in his New York Yankees jacket, and another, even though it was a workday, was sporting his party clothes.
One insisted I meet her “family,” introducing me to three staff members from her group home in Clintondale.
There was no gloating over past accomplishments, no boasting of future triumphs.
Instead, it was people with disabilities — masters of the present moment — happily showing that they knew, understood and liked their leader.
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