I Am "EveryParent"

I am...

• every parent who has lived through months of being sleep-deprived, living with a newborn.
• every special-needs parent who hopes and prays that other children will be kind to her child.
• every parent who sometimes is convinced her children will be in therapy, blaming mom for everything, by the time they are 25.
• every special-needs parent whose breathing actually stops when they worry about who will take care of their special-needs child, should something happen to them (the parent).
• every parent who finds the belly-laugh giggle of a child to be the most delightful sound ever.
• every special-needs parent who views their child's milestones as true miracles.
• every parent who feels consistenly guilty that their child spends too much time on the computer.
• every special-needs parent who wants to win the lottery, so that they can throw millions of dollars into research involving their child's diagnosis.
• every parent who despairs, some days, that their children will ever get along.
• every special-needs parent who feels like God gave them this particular child to teach them 1.5 million things about life (in addition to the 1.5 million things learned just from parenting, period)
• every parent who rejoices when their children learn how to read.
• every special-needs parent who suspects they may outlive that special-needs child...and their heart breaks at the thought that their older child will then be without their only sibling.
• every parent who notes it as "oh, here comes THAT phase" when their 11-year-old daughter starts insisting that you knock before entering their room.
• every special-needs parent whose spirit is lifted when their older child and their younger special-needs child are actually getting along, and being very kind towards each other.
• every parent who knows that they need to do something for themselves, in order to have the mental and emotional energy to parent well.

I am every parent, every special-needs parent, whose heart walks around outside their body every moment of the day....and who hopes the world will treat her children kindly.

Later,
Jen