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grab your tissues before preceding... ~sending love to you all~
Many of you I have never even met face to face, but I've searched
you out every day. I've looked for you on the Internet, on playgrounds
and in grocery stores. I've become an expert at identifying you. You
are well-worn. You are stronger than you ever wanted to be. Your words
ring experience, experience you culled with your very heart and soul.
You are compassionate beyond the expectations of this world.
You're my "sisters." Yes, you and I, my friend, are sisters in a
sorority. A very elite sorority. We are special. Just like any other
sorority, we were chosen to be members. Some of us were invited to
join immediately, some not for months or even years. Some of us even
tried to refuse membership, but to no avail. We were initiated in
neurologist's offices and NICU units, in obstetrician's offices, in
emergency rooms and during ultrasounds. We were initiated with somber
telephone calls, consultations, evaluations, blood tests, x-rays, MRI
films and heart
surgeries.
All of us have one thing in common. One day things were fine. We were
pregnant, or we had just given birth, or we were nursing our newborn,
or we were playing with our toddler. Yes, one minute everything was
fine. Then, whether it happened in an instant, as it often does, or
over the course of a few weeks or months, our entire lives changes.
Something wasn't quite right. Then we found ourselves mothers of
children with special needs.
We are united, we sisters, regardless of the diversity of our
children's special needs. Some of our children undergo chemotherapy.
Some need respirators and ventilators. Some are unable to talk, some
are unable to walk. Some eat through feeding tubes. Some live in a
different world. We do not discriminate against those mothers whose
children's needs are not as "special" as our child's. We have mutual
respect and empathy for all the women who walk in our shoes.
We are knowledgeable. We have educated ourselves with whatever
materials we
could find. We know "the" specialists in the field. We know "the"
neurologists, "the" hospitals, "the" wonder drugs, "the" treatments.
We know "the" tests that need to be done, we know "the" degenerative
and progressive diseases and we hold our breath while our children are
tested for them. Without formal education, we could become board
certified in neurology, endocrinology and psychiatry.
We have taken on our insurance companies and school boards to get what our
children need to survive, and to flourish. We have prevailed upon the
State to include augmentative communication devices in special
education classes and mainstream schools for our children with
cerebral palsy. We have labored to prove the insurance companies the
medical necessity of gait trainers and other adaptive equipment for
our children with spinal cord defects. We have sued municipalities to
have our children properly classified so they could receive education
and evaluation commensurate with their diagnosis.
We have learned to deal with the rest of the world, even if it means
walking
away from it. We have tolerated scorn in supermarkets during
"tantrums" and
gritted our teeth while discipline was advocated by the person behind
us in line. We have tolerated inane suggestions and home remedies
from well-meaning strangers.
We have tolerated mothers of children without special needs
complaining about chicken pox and ear infections. We have learned that
many of our closest friends can't understand what it's like to be in
our sorority, and don't even want to try.
We have our own personal copies of Emily Perl Kingsley's "A trip to
Holland" and Erma Bombeck's "The Special Mother". We keep them by our
bedside and read and re read them during our toughest hours.
We have coped with holidays. We have found ways to get our physically
handicapped children to the neighbors' front door on Halloween, and we
have
found ways to help our deaf children form words, "trick or treat". We
have accepted that our children with sensory dysfunction will never
wear velvet or lace on Christmas. We have painted a canvas of lights
and a blazing Yule log with our words for our blind children. We have
pureed turkey on Thanksgiving. We have bought white chocolate bunnies
for Easter. And all the while, we have tried to create a festive
atmosphere for the rest of our family.
We've gotten up every morning since our journey began wondering how we'd
make it through another day, and gone to bed every evening not sure how we
did it.
We've mourned the fact that we never got to relax and sip red wine in
Italy.
We've mourned the fact that our trip to Holland has required much more
baggage than we ever imagined when we first visited the travel agent. And
we've mourned because we left the airport without most of the things
we needed for the trip.
But we, sisters, we keep the faith always. We never stop believing.
Our love for our special children and our belief in all that they will
achieve in like knows no bounds. We dream of them scoring touchdowns
and extra points and home runs. We visualize them running sprints and
marathons. We dream of them planting vegetable seeds, riding horses
and chopping down trees. We hear their angelic voices singing
Christmas carols. We see their palettes smeared with watercolors, and
their fingers flying over ivory keys in a concert hall. We are amazed
at the grace of their pirouettes. We never, never stop believing in
all they will accomplish as they pass through this world.
But in the meantime, my sisters, the most important thing we do, is
hold tight to their little hands and together, we special mothers and
our special children, reach for the stars.
Author Unknown
Laughter is timeless, Imagination has no age, and Dreams are forever.....
What would you give a man who could make your deepest dreams come true?
Laughter is timeless, Imagination has no age, and Dreams are forever.....
What would you give a man who could make your deepest dreams come true?
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my son is a "special child"
he is special in the way he can light up an entire room with a smile.
he is special in the way he can teaches the value of a single sentence,
he is special in the way he has a laugh that melts each and every heart it touches,
he works harder then any child I know, and does it all with an amazing good nature and impishness that inspires those around him,
he is a free and independent person, whom declines the social standards and thus lets his own personality show through in a way that is all too rare in this standardized world.
he through his silence makes people listen, and thus makes the lessions he teaches all the more valued.
yes my son is special, in a hundred different ways, because it is the challanges of our lives, that allow us to become something extrodinary, because it is the great mountians that make the great mountian climbers
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-smiles and wipes away a tear-
That was lovely! Thank you for sharing that with us.
Every child is special. Every child whether disabled or not faces challenges each day. Whether the challenge is learning how to walk, or how to approach that guy/girl to talk to them without tripping over their feet too badly.
Every parent has had their days where they want to tear out their hair in frustration because they are at a loss on what to do.
God bless the children that overcome every obstacle no matter what it may be and the parents that love, cherish and nurture them, raising them up from children who impact the world to the adult that continues to have an impact on the world
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wipes my eyes ~
thankyou s~e winks and wraps you in a special hug
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i hear the song He has placed in my soul~and know that only with Him can i be whole.
Savage's (maiden )
Absolute~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~intimately woven, forever bound, only found within the O/others soul
truth, faith, love, trust....
forever Home
His {maiden} Absolute~
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