My daughter arrived in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the middle of the night on the eve of Thanksgiving. A tough respiratory virus attacked her lungs, and she needed a substantial amount of oxygen support. And now, this unexpected illness meant Thanksgiving was going to be completely different than we had all planned.
Are you scrounging for thankfulness this holiday season? Holidays can be a challenge for those walking through hard days. Perhaps you feel like you've been handed the short-end of the stick; your child is struggling, you’re exhausted and it seems like everybody else has life with a bit more gravy. It’s easy to focus on our circumstances, take stock of what we have and where we are and end up feeling completely void of thankfulness. Is there a cure for this?
I first suspected I had ADHD as a teenager, but finding the right professional to take me seriously was much harder than I expected. Previous attempts only ended in frustration and tears.
Enjoying the holidays with a food allergy sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? After all, eating together is an integral component of the holiday season. I looked forward to making our traditional holiday foods until I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy in 2012. What was to enjoy about the holidays when the foods associated with it were off limits to me?
It was a short, ten-minute drive from the hotel to the residential facility. I maintained composure while I navigated the busy public roads, and then residential streets. I had a whole range of emotions racing through my body, mind and spirit as we pulled into the campus. This was not just a pleasure drive or a routine errand, this was a significant milestone in the life of my son and our family.
Moms (and probably Dads, too) are constantly analyzing in the rearview mirror of life what we did right and wrong. I have worked very hard at being an intentional and “always there” mom. Due to that very fact, I have had much opportunity in our special needs life to make plenty of mistakes. Here are a few thoughts regarding my parenting that I did right (good) things, and some wrong (not so good) things!
My daughter is a gifted communicator even though she rarely speaks in sentences. “Mom” is one word that has a multitude of meanings. There’s one version of my name that I hate hearing, the one that conveys to me that she is upset or scared. As she yells “mom,” I often cry out to God in those moments, too.
The child was about 12 years old and weighed about that many pounds or a few more. As a young high school aged student, I didn’t know how to relate, respond, or inquire about my friends’ sibling that I was seeing—not meeting—for the first time. I’d known my friend for at least three years, and not once did my friend mention this sibling. It was my first introduction to someone having a family member with special needs.
