When your kids a beyond the norm, you have to adapt. There is the obvious rigorous schedule of meds, therapy, stretching, speech exercises, feedings and freak out. But there is more.
Over the years, I have noticed that parents of kids with special needs have a common thread with another part of our society. I have known many cops, emergency room personnel, even a couple of medical examiners. We all have a similar sense of humor. There are so many dark words outsiders describe it. Morbid, saturnine, lugubrious. I call it coping.
It’s something that you keep amongst others in your circle of other parents in your situation. We keep the joking about her getting her driver’s license before potty training to the waiting rooms of physical therapy and other “safe” places.
Not long ago I was met with a poor response when I posted this photos on Facebook. I found the caption humorous. We have been struggling with Bear’s weight for years. Her lack of body fat gives her a pale complexion that doesn’t photograph well in most lighting. The look on her face was funny.
She keep me up at all hours and it makes me feel like a zombie. The kid will eat everything put her way and not gain a single ounce. I walk around in a daze. Maybe a change of diet will help us avoid time in the nutritionist clinic. I shrugged off the remarks made on the photo and moved on.
If we can’t find humor in something in our off-the-wall lives, we’ll crumble.