Thursday, October 4, 2012

Down Syndrome Awareness Month: What's it like?

"I just don't know how you do it!"

I hear this a lot, and it used to make my blood boil. (To be fair, I know I've said it myself in the past, so I know it's well-intentioned. From now on, though, I will save this exclamation for people who guess my card and pull rabbits out of hats.) I'd smile and say something witty like, "Well, I just do it one day at a time." But inside I'd be thinking, "What choice do you think I have? I just do what has to be done!"

I've realized, though, that at the heart of this I-don't-know-what-else-to-say statement is a very sincere but very awkward question: What's it like to have a child with special needs?

It would be a hard question to enunciate face-to-face, but it's a fair one. And now, during Down Syndrome Awareness Month, I think it's a good question to answer. So here goes...

From the minute you find out your child has special needs, you are on a whole new path--one that you have never experienced before...

...and you may even feel walled in, like you have no choice but to start walking.

So you lace up your tennis shoes...
...and embark on the journey.

The path seems anything but smooth...

...and you wonder if you can make it.

It seems like an insurmountable distance for one person to cover...

...and at times it's so hard to traverse that you wonder if you're the only one who has ever walked this path...


At other times, you see people zooming past you...

...and you think, Wait a second, is there some sort of fast track I'm missing? How can they do it so quickly and so well? Where's MY bicycle?

But you keep going.

And just when you think you can't take another step...
...you find provisions...


...and rest.

And suddenly, your perspective...
...begins to change...

...and you can see the beauty beyond the rocky areas.

You begin to relax and take it in...

...and you see that the very rocks that can trip you up can also make for a beautiful river if you flow around them rather than try to trample over them.

So what's it like having a child with special needs?

Well, my friends... it's a walk in the park.










3 comments:

CMSavage6 said...

He looks so big! And your right, its just like a walk in the park. :-)

S&PzMom said...

That was a beautiful way to describe our journey as special needs parents! I loved it.

Aubrey.MomfiaTees said...

Good post, Katy!